JtlBRilRY OF CONGRESS I 

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J UNITED STATES OE^UIERICA. t 



THE HttM 



— - — 

WESLEYAN DEMOSTHENES: 



COMPRISING 



SELECT SERMONS 



REV. JOSEPH BEAUMONT. 

With a ^Mtlx tit W (tthMMttx. 



By REV. J. B. WAKE LEY, D. D. 



" His words bore sterling weight, nervous and strong, 
^ In manly tides of strength they rolled along. 

0^ > ' >< ) 

NEW YORK: "^^t/ 
NELSON & PHILL IPS. 

CINCINNATI : 
HITCHCOCK <Sc W ALDEN, 

1875. 

: m 




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by 

NELSON 8c PHILLIPS, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



C OlsTTE^.TS. 



Page 

Rey. Joseph Beaumont, M.D. — Sketch of Life 7 

Sermon 

I. The More Excellent Sacrifice 85 

And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of 
the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to 
his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had not 

respect, — G-en. iv, 4, 5. By faith Abel offered unto God a 

more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained wit- 
ness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts : and 

by it he being dead yet speaketh. — Heb. xi, 4. Eighteous 

Abel. — Matt, xxiii, 35. 



II. Divine Workmanship 105 

For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work: I will 
triumph in the wOrks of thy hands. — Psalm xcii, 4. 



III. The Stone Refused by the Builders 126 

The stone which the builders refused is become the head 
stone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvel- 
ous in our eyes. — Psalm cxviii, 22, 23. 

IV. The Resurrection of Christ 149 

He is not here : for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the 
place where the Lord lay.— Matt, xxviii, 6. 



V. The City of Refuge.. 1*73 

That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible 
for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have 
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. — 
Heb. vi, 18. 

YI. Thy Kingdom Come 198 

Thy kingdom come. — Matt, vi, 10. 



VII. The Righteousness of God by Faith 231 

Even the righteousness of G-od which is by faith of Jesus 
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe ; for there is 
no difference. — Bom. hi, 22. 



VIII. The Wisdom of Winning Souls 253 

He that winneth souls is wise. — Pkov. xl 80. 



4 Contents. 



Sermon Pagb 
IX. Opening Blind Eyes 278 

I the Lord will give thee for a light of the G-entiles ; to open 
blind eyes. — Isaiah xlii, 6, T. 

X. The Judgment 304 

And the times of this ignorance God winked at ; but now 
commandeth all men every-where to repent : because he hath 
appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in 
righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained ; whereof 
he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised 
him from the dead. — Acts xvii, 30, 81. 

XL Religion in Social Life.; 323 

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the 
Church and gave himself for it ; that he might sanctify and 
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he 
might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having 
spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be 
holy and without blemish. — Eph. v, 25-27. 

XII. The Death of Christ 343 

Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a 
man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders 
and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye 
yourselves also know : him, being delivered by the determi- 
nate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and 
by wicked hands have crucified and slain.— Acts ii, 22, 23. 

XIII. The Glorious Pursuit and Sublime Destiny of 

the Christian 366 

Seek those things that are above. — Col. iii, 1. 

XIV. Rich Man and Lazarus 404 

He said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, 
neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the 
dead. — Luke xvi, 31. 

XV. The Time of Light 425 

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not 
be clear, nor dark : but it shall be* one day which shall be 
known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to 
pass, that at evening time rt shall be light. — Zech. xiv, 6, 7. 



SKETCH 

OF 

REV. JOSEPH BEAUMONT, M.D. 



THE 



WESLEYAN DEMOSTHENES. 



REV. JOSEPH BEAUMONT, M.D. 

English Methodism has produced a number of 
eminent public orators, stars of the first magnitude 
in the ecclesiastical heavens : 

" Immortal names, 
That were not born to die." 

Among the most gifted of these was the Rev. 
Dr. Joseph Beaumont. His character had a 
tinge of chivalry, and his life was full of move- 
ment. He was, indeed, more like a comet than a 
planet, for he moved in his own eccentric orbit, 
leaving behind him a brilliant light. Of the 
mighty men of Wesleyan Methodism none were 
more attractive and powerful in the pulpit than 
he. He swayed the masses as the wind sways the 
waving grain or the leaves on the trees. Often, 
by a burst of his eloquence, he would raise a 
whole audience from their seats, and they would 
lean forward and listen to him with rapt attention. 
His fame as a pulpit orator, now confined some- 
what to his native land, richly deserves to be ex- 
tended over the Christian world. 



8 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



Beaumont's Early Years. 

Joseph Beaumont was born at Castle Donning- 
ton, March 19, 1794. His father, John Beaumont, 
was a Methodist preacher, and was distinguished, 
among other traits of character, for his love of mu- 
sic and of fine horses. He not only loved music, 
hut he composed many beautiful tunes, which, 
though not equal to those of Haydn or Handel, 
were much admired. Some of them are still sung. 

Joseph's mother was a charming woman, who 
did much in molding his character and shaping 
his destiny. He tenderly loved her in life, and 
deeply lamented her in death. Annually he visited 
her grave and wept there. Behold how he loved 
her ! How the orator fades away before the affec- 
tionate son ! Joseph inherited from his father an 
ardent love for music. It grew with his growth, and 
strengthened with his strength, and ripened with 
his riper years, so that he could have sung, 

"Let music cheer me last on earth, 
And greet me first in heaven." 

Early Seriousness. 

Young Beaumont says: " No sooner did reason 
begin to dawn than my mind was impressed with a 
consciousness of a Divine Being. Serious impres- 
sions were early made; and I remember perfectly 
well at Birstall, when about seven years old, I felt 
much under sermons, and when the congregations 
were singing. There was a general alarm among 
the young people there at that time, so that we 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 9 



held a prayer-meeting on a Sunday afternoon in a 
summer-house in my father's garden. O the sim- 
plicity of our hearts ! Would to God I had now 
that childlike humility! Singing was what most 
affected me — more than the sermon. When funeral 
hymns were sung, and especially when one particu- 
lar hymn was sung, I could never refrain from 
crying, whether in chapel or meeting."* 

At Kingswood School. 

At the age of nine years Joseph was sent to the 
famous school at Kingswood, where the sons of 
Methodist preachers were educated. These were 
among his brightest days, and Kingswood had a 
charm for him throughout all his life. He looked 
back upon it as his Alma Mater. Years after he 
wrote thus: " Kingswood, where art thou? Kings- 
wood school, still dearer, art thou fled forever?" 

Poetic Tendencies. 

Joseph early sought the Muses ; but was cured in 
rnther a strange way, at Kingswood, of his poetic 
tendencies. Each boy was directed to furnish an 
original poem as a competitive exercise. There was 
a great strife among them, each contending for the 
palm. Young Beaumont wrote an effusion that was 
much admired, and it was generally admitted it de- 
served the highest honor ; but just as he expected to 
be crowned with laurels one of the masters thought 
it was not original, and that the young would-be 

* Autobiography, which he wrote when fifteen years old. 



io The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



poet had attempted to shine in borrowed feathers. 
The master was mistaken, but the disappointment 
quenched Joseph's poetic fire. Late in life he said, 
"I always thought it a happy circumstance that 
this trivial event occurred, as it had the effect of 
leading me to abandon all attempts at nibbling at 
the foot of Parnassus — the elevation of which I 
should never have reached." 

Beaumont's Conversion. 

He had reason to remember Kingswood, for it 
was his spiritual birthplace. There was a revival 
of religion at Kingswood a year before Joseph left 
the school, and he was one of the converts. With a 
glad heart he said to his brother Thomas, who was 
also a pupil in that school, " Christ has pardoned 
my sins" A new religious class was formed, and 
Joseph was appointed leader. 

At Kingswood he distinguished himself for moral- 
ity, industry, unbounded thirst for knowledge, and 
for success in scholarship. He returned home from 
Kingswood after an absence of five years. He re- 
mained at home only five days, and then took his 
departure to enter upon business life. 

His Apprenticeship. 
Greatly disappointed was Joseph when his stern 
father bound him an apprentice to a chemist at 
Macclesfield. The business was not at all conge- 
nial to his taste, but, like a dutiful son, he yielded 
obedience. His master failing in business, Joseph 
went to a better place at Chesterfield. Here, while 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



1 1 



faithful in attendance to his lawful business, he 
neglected not to cultivate his intellectual and moral 
powers. 

Call to the Ministry— Singular Opposition. 

Joseph finally determined to become a Methodist 
preacher, though some friends wished him to be- 
come a minister of the Church of England. Strange 
to say, he met with opposition to his design of be- 
coming a traveling preacher from a source he least 
expected — from his father, who sent Joseph the 
following letter, dated January, 1813 : "There are 
several things that will make against the ministry 
for you. First, your stammering. This, I fear, 
cannot be conquered so as to make you an agree- 
able public speaker, and allow that acuteness of 
expression and ready elocution which are so pleas- 
ing. Secondly , your state of health will not admit 
of the physical and mental exertion which is neces- 
sary for a zealous minister. Thirdly, as things 
now stand in the religious world, men with small 
abilities are but little thought of. In fact, I think 
no one should be a minister but those who dare 
not resist the call of God." Was a cooler or more 
discouraging letter ever written by a father ? We 
should have thought it would have damped 
Joseph's ardor, extinguished his fire, annihilated 
his call, and taken all the preach out of him. How 
surprising that letter reads when we think of the 
splendid genius, wonderful gifts, oratorical powers, 
and the brilliant career of the writer's distinguished 
son ! 



12 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



Impediment in his Speech. 

An erroneous impression has extensively pre- 
vailed that the roof of Dr. Beaumont's mouth 
was defective, and that he was obliged to have a 
silver one inserted to enable him to speak. This is 
a mistake. In his autobiography he speaks of "an 
impediment in my speech, which it has pleased 
Almighty Goodness to afflict me with." In early 
life it was a source of great annoyance to him, but 
he struggled like Demosthenes, and succeeded, in a 
great measure, in overcoming it. It was purely a 
nervous affection, which was removed by placing 
himself under the care of eminent elocutionists, and 
by presence of mind, attention, and self-control. 

Bunting's Advice. 

In regard to young Beaumont entering the min- 
istry his father consulted Dr. Jabez Bunting, and 
as he favored it that decided the question. This 
is noteworthy, when we remember the attitude 
Drs. Bunting and Beaumont assumed toward each 
other in after years, being constantly opposed in 
regard to Church policy. They were both highly 
gifted men, but dissimilar in their views, tastes, 
and actions. Dr. Banting never had a sharper 
thorn in his side than Joseph Beaumont; and Dr. 
Beaumont never met with a sterner or more pow- 
erful opposition in the Wesleyan body than from 
Jabez Bunting. 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



13 



Beaumont's First Sermon. 

" At the age of nineteen," says Dr. Beaumont, 
a I delivered my first sermon, in compliance with 
the earnest entreaty of my minister and the irresist- 
ible persuasion of my mind that such was my 
duty, from ' Repent ye, and be converted, that 
your sins may be blotted out,' etc. I was ac- 
companied to the chapel by the superintendent 
preacher, who sat behind me in the pulpit. That 
trial was decisive, and I was assured by my friends 
and minister, and others with whom I was asso- 
ciated, that I must henceforth leave all and fol- 
low Christ in the great vocation of the Christian 
ministry." How wise it was to have the question 
settled then, there, and forever ! It saved much 
future anxiety. 

He Enters the Traveling Connection. 

At the Conference of 1813, when Beaumont was 
only nineteen years old, he was brought forward 
by Rev. Robert Crowther, and entered upon the 
regular work of the ministry. He began his labor 
with a due sense of his responsibility. 

9 First and Second Circuits — Results. 

On his first circuit, Warrington, he was highly 
esteemed, and heaven crowned his labors with 
success. Among others converted under his minis- 
try was Rev. R. MorFatt, the distinguished South 
African missionary. Young Beaumont while on 
that circuit wrote to a friend thus : " Pulpit work 



14 The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



is my increasing delight, In my study and in the 
pulpit I find my most happy and exalted moments, 
and what I feel in the one is generally apparent in 
the other. My heart's desire and chiefest ambition 
is, to become an able minister of the New Testa- 
ment, that I may save both myself and them that 
hear me." These were noble sentiments from a 
young minister. 

His next appointment (1815) wasPrescott. Two 
important events that exerted great influence on 
his future destiny transpired here. The first was, 
the forming the acquaintance of Dr. Adam Clarke, 
the eminent biblical scholar and commentator, who 
resided on the circuit. A friendship was here com- 
menced between them that was interrupted only 
by death, to be renewed on the other side of the 
river, where 

''Perfect love and friendship reign 
To all eternity." 

The second event referred to was his introduction 
to Miss Morton, a lady who afterward became 
Mrs. Joseph Beaumont. Beaumont and Dr. Robert 
Morrison, the distinguished missionary to China, 
married sisters. From this field of labor Mr. Beau- 
mont wrote to a friend thus: "Of late my views 
have become enlarged of the vast responsibility of 
the ministerial position, of the high and varied 
qualifications necessary to a proper discharge of 
its functions, and my soul pants with warmer 
desires than usual that success and prosperity may 
crown my feeble endeavors. To be a wise, an 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



IS 



able, a faithful, and successful minister of the New 
Testament, how vast the thought ! how august 
the character ! how high the calling ! how arduous 
the task, how solemn the duties ! how rich, 
how vast, how glorious the reward ! Such is the 
very height of my ambition; but what an immense 
distance there is between me and such a character." 
What correct views he had of the sacred office and 
of his own tremendous responsibility ! During 
these years he studied as intensely as the mind 
could bear to show himself " a workman that need- 
eth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of 
truth." 

Glasgow — Dr. Chalmers— His Lectures. 

In 1819 he was appointed to Glasgow, Scotland. 
He concluded to make the best of it, as that was 
the seed-time of his life. He went to hear Dr. 
Thomas Chalmers deliver the introductory to a 
course of lectures on the Romans. "He was said 
to be below himself on that occasion. However 
much or little he was below himself \ he was a good 
way above his audience. He is quite sui generis * 
having a class of thought peculiar to himself — 
novel, original, and bold — and a class of phrase as 
peculiar as his thought. He is in the best and 
highest sense of the word a great man, and to me 
seems destined to be a burning and a shining light." 
How descriptive of the character of Chalmers, who 
had not yet reached his zenith! How prophetic ! 
It showed that young Beaumont was a discerner 
of men, and could appreciate superior talents. 



1 6 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



About this time he wrote, " I am at present attend- 
ing the logic and the rhetoric class, and so far have 
turned collegian without either intention or pros- 
pect of literary honors. " These lectures were of 
great benefit to him. 

Being an unmarried man he remained in Glas-* 
gow only one year, being removed at the ensuing 
Conference to Dunbar Circuit. During the year 
1821 he was married to Miss Morton, who made 
him an excellent wife, and became the mother 
of a number of children, whom he used to call 
" a flock." 

Edinburgh. 
His next appointment was Edinburgh, .where 
he lived three years. He there enrolled himself 
a member of the University, as he had done in 
Glasgow; and though he attended the lectures of 
Dr. Chalmers and others, his studies were not now, 
as formerly, directed to belles-lettres or moral sci- 
ence, but to the acquisition of the physical sciences. 
It was a favorite maxim with Dr. Beaumont that 
all knowledge is worth acquiring. His ministry at 
Edinburgh was one of great success. He was so 
unboundedly popular that the people made an effort 
to have him remain the fourth year, which was in- 
consistent with the Wesleyan order. From Edin- 
burgh he was sent to Buxton Circuit, in England. 

Hull Circuit— William M. Bunting. 

Dr. Beaumont removed from Buxton Circuit to 
Hull. Here he had a more enlarged sphere of la- 
bor, and here he acquired great reputation and 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 17 



influence among the Wesleyans. Neither was his 
reputation restricted to them. The years at Hull 
may be looked upon as the opening period of his 
general popularity throughout the country ; they 
were years in which his position and powers were 
matured and his reputation established. 

Dr. Beaumont not only preached to crowds of 
admiring auditors at Hull, but his services began 
to be in demand all over the countiy on special 
occasions, dedicating chapels, and at missionary 
and Bible meetings. A missionary meeting was 
held at Hull, and Dr. Beaumont preached one of 
his characteristic sermons. The next evening the 
Rev. William M. Bunting preached a missionary 
discourse which greatly pleased Dr. Beaumont, 
and he thus wrote concerning it : " I have seen no 
young man in our Connection of whom I think so 
highly as of this said William M. Bunting. He 
preached a delightful sermon ; rich, solemn, ear- 
nest, and impressive. His piety seems sincere, 
modest, and pervading, and when I saw the grace 
of God in him I was glad." What an honorable 
record! It showed there was no jealousy in his 
bosom. Dr. Beaumont suffered greatly at H ull from 
heart disease. He left that place, loving and being 
beloved, and was appointed to Nottingham Circuit. 

London— James Parsons— Death of Dr. Clarke. 

From Nottingham Circuit Dr. Beaumont was 
sent to Southwark, London, where he spent three 
years. His ministry in London produced quite a 
sensation, and was a grand success. 

2 



1 8 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



In October, 1831, he heard Rev. James Parsons 
preach, and was greatly delighted. He says : 
" I made my way to Tottenham Court Chapel, 
where James Parsons was valiantly holding forth 
on being 'valiant for the truth.' The crowd was 
prodigious; many hundreds went away unable to 
press in." Mr. Parsons was a magnificent preacher, 
and the sermon Dr. Beaumont then heard was 
published in the " Pulpit " years ago. I read it 
with great delight. In August, 1832, Dr. Adam 
Clarke died suddenly, with the cholera, and among 
others Dr. Beaumont preached a very able and 
appropriate sermon in reference to him. Most 
deeply he lamented the Doctor's death ; and we 
wonder not, for in him he lost an invaluable 
friend. 

Edinburgh Again. 

In 1833 Dr. Beaumont received his appoint- 
ment again to Edinburgh. The following shows 
the state of his mind on entering upon his work : 
" I must set to in good earnest, and see what zeal- 
ous preaching, holy living, constant praying, and 
patient suffering, with the divine blessing, will do 
here. And yet I am aware that Scotland does not 
present to our plow and harrow a fertile soil. But 
when I think of the divine Husbandman I cannot 
despair. Time flies ; life wears away ; duties and 
responsibilities deepen and multiply." The years 
he spent in Edinburgh were those of pleasure and 
profite 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 19 



London Again— Receives the Degree of M.D. 

At the Conference of 1836 Dr. Beaumont was 
appointed to Hinde-street, London, where he re- 
mained three years. London was the place for 
his transcendent talents, and there he made his 
mark. He returned from that Conference to Edin- 
burgh to take his degree in medicine, which he 
had richly earned by intense application. Rather 
singularly, the subject of the essay he prepared 
for his examination was that which terminated his 
existence — disease of the heart. 

Biography of Mrs. Tatham. 

While in London (in 1838) Dr. Beaumont pre- 
pared the biography of Mrs. Tatham, of Notting- 
ham — a work of rare beauty, abounding in passages 
of elegance and eloquence, a work which not only 
had an extensive circulation in England, but was 
republished in America, where it is widely known.* 

Letter to a Young Minister. 

Doctor Beaumont felt a peculiar interest in the 
welfare of the young, and especially of young men 
who were struggling to enter into the ministry, as 
the following letter to a young man, written in 1839, 
will show : 

u Read the Bible much for your own personal 
edification, and read it with prayer. Let the word 
of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom, that you 

* For sale by Nelson & Phillips, 805 Broadway. 



20 The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



may become a man of God 'thoroughly furnished 
unto all good works.' To be 'mighty in the Script- 
ures' is a great advantage, a worthy commendation 
of a minister of Christ. Seek to obtain a familiar, 
intimate, complete conscious possession and mastery 
of the capital truths, the first principles, the car- 
dinal doctrines, the grand elements, of the Christian 
faith. These are the weapons of your warfare, and 
you must be able to use them readily, vigorously, 
authoritatively. The capital charm and power of 
good Methodist preaching was from the beginning, 
still is, and I trust will continue to be, the manly, 
clear, earnest, unequivocal, positive declaration of 
repentance toward God and faith in our Lord 
Jesus, a w r arm and bold enunciation of justification 
and sanetification. 

" Next in order of practical value I am disposed 
to place the acquisition of general knowledge — the 
knowledge of men and things — of history and phi- 
losophy ; and besides the acquisition of general 
history, and the study of mental philosophy and of 
logic, I lay great stress on natural history and nat- 
ural philosophy. No doubt he is a learned man 
that knows words, but he is a wise man who knows 
things. As to languages, you should acquire as 
many of them as practicable. A good knowledge 
of Latin is important. The value of Greek will be 
considerable to you as a biblical student and a 
candidate for the Christian ministry. German is rich 
in philosophy and eloquence, and is undoubtedly a 
desideratum. French is an accomplishment and 
a convenience; and Hebrew is a high and sacred 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 21 



attainment for a divine — a noble and venerable in- 
heritance. Read good English authors, and some 
good poets ; the latter, that your mind and ear 
may catch their harmonious numbers, and may be 
attuned to their capital rhythm, as well as their fine 
thoughts." 

He then recommends a number of volumes ; not 
only Wesleyan works, but a variety of others. 
" Jeremy Taylor's Works," he says, " are stored 
with thought and eloquence. Hooker's 'Ecclesi- 
astical Polity' is a majestic work. Baxter is an 
incomparable writer, and cannot be read without 
profit to head and. heart, and Howe's ' Living 
Temple ' is a production of a great mind and 
filled with powerful eloquence. Knowledge is 
that of which, when once possessed, the intellect 
cannot be robbed ; but always remember it is 
desirable to store your intellect rather than your 
memory. Recreative studies should not be neg- 
lected, and among these I reckon history and 
geography. Without the knowledge of the former, 
you cannot rank as a scholar; and without ac- 
quaintance with the latter, you must often feel 
yourself at fault on subjects of every-day interest 
and recurrence." 

The Gown. 

At the Conference of 1840 there was an effort 
made to introduce among the Wesleyan minis- 
try the wearing of the clerical gown. J)\\ 
Beaumont opposed it vehemently, and had, as he 
said, " the credit or the blame of tearing the gown 



22 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



to pieces." And it remains torn. An effort has 
never been made to introduce it into that body 
since. 

The Consequential Woman. 

Dr. Beaumont was one of those who took the 
apostle's advice, a Mind not high things, but conde- 
scend to men of low estate." Once speaking of a 
lady he did not admire he said : lt I did not like 
her ; she is too cold, formal, mechanical, consequen- 
tial, political, and ecclesiastical to suit my taste. I 
like heart, heat, feeling, and good sense ; and all 
stiffness, and prim, set, icy, pretended state may go 
to the dogs for me, as it is really most opposite to 
good breeding and good manners." 

Beaumont's Love for the Beautiful in 
Nature and Art. 

Dr. Beaumont admired the beautiful in nature 
and the beautiful in art. His powers of description 
were transcendent. He had a wonderful power of 
language ; all the rich treasures of words were at 
his command, and he used figures naturally and 
beautifully. Nature unfolded her magnificent 
volume to him, and with delight he read her 
pages. 

In 1841 he had been out into the country from 
Edinburgh, enjoying some beautiful scenes of na- 
ture, admiring the " hills, swelling in colossal grand- 
eur and heavenmade beauty." He says: 4 I had in- 
tense delight in communing with rivers and trees, 
and valleys and mountains: but rich, and sparkling, 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 23 



and eddying, and ever-flowing, as I fell the river 
which I gazed upon in its infinite windings and 
lowly moamugs; vast, gigantic, grand, and sublime, 
as I felt to be the mountains in their loftiness ; lovely, 
and soft, and home-like, as I felt to be the valleys 
along which we swept — commend me to the trees 
which fringe those valleys and bedeck those mount- 
ain sides. Never was I so delighted with the rich, 
luxuriant, lace-like, festooned foliage of the larch, or 
so much impressed by the heavy shade and match- 
less symmetry and towering stateliness of the fir, 
as when gazing on those noble vistas and mighty 
masses of our mother earth." 

Again he says : "I have just returned from the 
realm of mountain, lake, and stream. The mount- 
ains are glorious, the lakes are beauteous, and the 
streams are children of the one and the parents of 
the other. The sense of power, vastness, energy, 
might, massiveness, and plenteousness which the 
mountains awake in the bosom, and set a-floating 
through the nerves, is truly exciting and gratify- 
ing. The Creator and the creation come upon us 
with prodigious force in such scenes. The heights 
of Skiddaw, of Helvellyn, and Saddleback draw 
one's poor self somewhat higher ; their enduring- 
ness tells of eternity somewhere, though mortal- 
ity is here ; their extent and quantity convey a 
most welcome notion of fullness, sufficiency, abun- 
dance, nay, redundance ; their varieties of form, and 
figure, and outline, realize the definition of beauty 
— variety in harmony ; their sterile aspect seems to 
say to man that it is enough for him to look at 



24 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



them and thence draw invigoration — power for his 
intellect — without abstracting from their surface 
food for his flesh; and their general insubordination 
to man's industrious hand, and grasping commerce, 
and all but almighty science, cries aloud to him 
from the heights of their untrodden, unbroken, un- 
imagined solitudes, " Thus far shalt thou come and 
no farther," while their hidden contents who can 
conceive? But it is almost a law that where phys- 
ical nature is barren superficially it is stored with 
internal riches. What mineral treasures may not 
those mountain masses contain ! And thus it is 
with the dark, and gloomy, and withering dispen- 
sations of Divine providence : they look dark, and 
sterile, and cheerless, but they are pregnant with 
themes and lessons rich and enduring as the most 
precious metals deej)-emboweled in the mighty 
mountains." 

Beaumont's Love for Flowers. 

He not only had a universal love of beauty, but 
he was peculiarly fond of flowers. He speaks of 
flowers as " those gentle, beauteous children of 
the sunshine and the shower — those gifts fresh 
from the hand of Deity, rendering more beautiful 
the face of a world already rich with his bounty. 
Flowers may be said to be the poetry of nature, 
emblems of purity, grace, and beauty ; the free- 
will offerings of Him whose benignity adorns the 
earth with loveliness. They are associated with the 
song of birds, with trees and streams, and with 
every thing fair and symmetrical in nature. They 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 25 



are links in the mysterious chain, binding by deli- 
cate ties the heart of man to 

44 The good God, who loves and cares for all." 

The ancient Greeks were passionate admirers of 
flowers, their love for them was boundless, as in 
them they found the most delicate and varied 
forms of beauty. In Scripture flowers are every- 
where to be met with, quoted as incentives to faith, 
love, and duty. 

At a certain time the Doctor was admiring the 
gorgeous colors made by a bed of beautiful verbe- 
nas ; he exclaimed, as he was charmed with the 
loveliness of the scene, " Upon my word, a man can 
scarcely help taking off his hat before such exqui- 
site creations of the Almighty." 

Love for Old Castles— Statues— Paintings — 
Woburn Abbey. 

Dr. Beaumont delighted to visit old castles 
and the homes and haunts of the poets. In these 
places he was wont to wander, communing with 
the past and with the mighty dead. In October, 
1831, he writes: 44 1 visited Woburn Abbey, that 
magnificent seat of the Duke of Bedford. It is 
particularly rich in painting and sculpture. Of the 
latter there is a most spacious and lofty gallery 
— a separate building from the house — at one end 
of which is the Temple of the Graces, at the other 
the Temple of Liberty — the one being the shrine 
of beauty, the other that of Whiggism. In the 
latter, of course the central divinity is Charles J. 



26 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



Fox, the subordinate deities being Mr. Hare, Lord 
Holland, Earl Grey, etc. The statues from Rome, 
Egypt, Ephesus, and other cradles and nurse: ies 
of the arts, I gazed on with more of admiration 
and delight than I had supposed my nature sus- 
ceptible of. I always feel after such a day's inqui- 
sition into these collections of intellectual and 
artistic riches — the true source of pride, the real 
beauties of our globe — everyway a less despicable 
person than I was before." 

Home of the Poet Moore— of Rousseau. 

In January, 1842, Dr. Beaumont was in May- 
field, within the precincts of Dovedale, one of En- 
gland's most charming scenes. He says : " Within a 
few hundred yards of the chapel in which I preached 
is a cottage which was inhabited several years 
by Moore, the poet, and in which he composed his 
'Lalla Rookh.' It is now tenanted by a Meth- 
odist farmer, who brought me from Tutbury, but 
did not even tell me that his dwelling-place had 
been haunted by a spirit fresh from the dews of 
Parnassus ! He stared when I presented myself 
after the afternoon service upon his fairy ground. 
Cheeses are now produced where splendid fancies 
had their birth ; and the locality in which Moore's 
genius caught and displayed rare beauties is desert- 
ed. The charm of the place is destroyed; yet I 
was not without the feeling that it possessed some 
real interest, and I could not help tearing from a 
tree a branch, not wholly without the feeling that 
it partook of that interest from the by-gone inhabit- 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 27 



ation of the spot on which it grew. How all things 
change !" In the same neighborhood Dr. Beau- 
mont saw the house in which Rosseau dwelt so 
long, and said : " His cap is still in Derbyshire, and 
treasured up as a relic of departed greatness." 

In 1854 Beaumont made another visit to this 
place of unparalleled beauty, and thus describes it : 
" The other day I went to Dovedale, close to Ash- 
bourne. It is a scene of great natural beauty, 
composed of glens, and rocks, and woods, and 
w T ater. The river Dove, winding among the whole 
with its quiet, pellucid stream, revealing its treas- 
ured and beautiful tenants, the trout and grayling, 
adds to the charm." 

Shakspeare's Birthplace— The Indignant 
Woman. 

In July, 1843, Dr. Beaumont preached at Strat- 
ford-upon-Avon, after which he went to see the 
house in which Shakspeare was born. What 
multitudes from all parts of the world have visited 
that old house, around which such rich poetic in- 
terests cluster ! Princes and nobles, poets and 
painters, statesmen and divines have made their 
pilgrimage to this shrine of genius. Dr. Beaumont 
thus describes it : 

" The house is a low-pitched, antiquated build- 
ing, in the upper room of which that great creat- 
ure first saw the light. It is a room so low that 
the ceiling may be touched by the hand, and it is 
written upon all over with the names of visitors, all 
the walls being written over in the same manner. 



28 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



Names, names, names, innumerable, noble and 
ignoble, are there ; and it was with difficulty I 
could find room to insert mine. The stream of 
visitors thither embraces many foreigners of distinc- 
tion and consideration. Americans in numbers wend 
their way to Stratford-upon-Avon. One of them 
would sleep in the room not long ago, and accord- 
ingly a mattress was procured, on w'hich he lay 
till morning, catching inspiration from the natal 
room of nature's own child and art's best disciple ! 
Some time ago a female who had charge of the 
favored dwelling, but was compelled to quit it, 
in her vexation and diabolism whitewashed its 
walls and ceiling, and entombed, as she thought, 
the glorious assemblage of names written by hands 
which had come from the east and the west, the 
north and the south. But the whitewash was re- 
moved by some chemical process, and a full reve- 
lation was again obtained of them." 

The Birthplace of Locke. 

In November, 1851, Dr. Beaumont was at 
Wrington. " There," he says, " Locke was born, 
and we went into the house and room where he 
first saw the light. It is now inhabited by very 
poor people, and is going fast to decay." 

Barley Wood— The Home of Hannah More. 

" At Wrington, also, is Barley Wood, which 
was the favorite residence of Hannah More. She 
is buried in a tomb in the church-yard of Wrington, 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 29 



in which lie, also, four of her sisters — in all five 
maiden ladies — inclosed in one resting-place. In 
the church there is a very large and elegant marble 
tablet to the memory of the celebrated Hannah. 
In part of the same church, inclosed by a screen, 
there is a desk on which are five folio books, well 
bound, all chained to the place in which they are 
arranged for the purpose of being read. The first 
is a Bible, a very fine black-letter copy, well to 
look on and easy to read ; another is a book of 
4 Acts and Sufferings ' of Martyrs ; another consists 
of Luther's disputations. I was very much in- 
terested in the church, and those precious things so 
well secured in it. Barley Wood, after the death 
of Hannah More, (all her sisters having preceded 
her to the tomb,) was sold, and is now possessed by 
Mr. Harford, who is not only a wealthy gentleman 
but one of great taste. He permitted us most 
kindly to see the house, took us over the dining- 
room and drawing-room himself, and described his 
pictures. Many of these he brought from Italy 
himself, and some he had prepared there by its in- 
imitable artists under his own orders. We then 
strolled through the beautiful walks in the wood, in 
which we met, here and there, with some stone mon- 
uments — one to Locke, presented to Hannah More 
by Mrs. Montague ; another to Bishop Porteus, w r ho 
was a great friend and patron of the authoress." 

Beaumont as a Letter Writer. 
Dr. Beaumont was an elegant letter writer. 
Happy were those who had him for a correspond- 



3o 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



ent. His letters to his wife and children are 
models ; they show the kind of husband and father 
he was. Never was a man happier in his domestic 
relations; home was his earthly paradise, his ter- 
restrial Eden. His letters to his friends were beau- 
tiful. He frequently corresponded with Mrs. Row- 
ley, the gifted daughter of his friend, Dr. Adam 
Clarke. 

Beautiful Extracts— Methodistie Fire. 

" Take away excitement and fervor from Meth- 
odism and you would reduce it to, and leave it, 
a decent and respectable, but a shriveled, power- 
less, and ever diminishing thing. A calm, medita- 
tive, lofty, reasoning, philosophic, thoughtful, soul- 
sublimating religion is all very well for those who 
have mind and education, and taste, and leisure ; 
but the multitude must be dealt with as such, and 
pressed and impressed, according to the grossness 
and quantity, and other circumstances, of their ag- 
gregate bulk. For my own part, I had infinitely 
rather Methodism were like Samson when tearing 
up the gates of the city of Gaza, than like him 
when his locks were shorn off in the lap of De- 
lilah." 

The Sufferings of Christ. 

cc O, there is One, who, enveloped in a more 
ghastly gloom than that which vailed the shud 
dering heavens over Mount Calvary, felt himself 
for some mysterious moments in the appalling con 
dition of a creature abandoned of God, and who, 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 31 



while a chill of unimagined horror fell upon his 
spirit, exclaimed in his astonishment, £ My God, my 
God, why hast thou forsaken me?"' 

The Benefit of Suffering. 

While passing through suffering scenes in 1841, 
Dr. Beaumont wrote thus : u Many things crowd 
upon me just now, and some haunt me, and at times 
oppress my spirit. O, for a clear and steady light 
to flow down from the Father of Lights upon my 
misty pathway, in this troubled, shadowy, solemn 
scene. But sometimes I feel as though I walk with 
angels and with God; that I am a creature of 
eternity, though a tenant and trustee of time. How 
is it that I cannot help thinking continually, as feel- 
ing depths within, still deepening as I go ? I do 
believe that suffering strengthens the mind ; that 
suffering for God and truth is a tonic to it ; that 
suffering in the cause of divine charity girds up the 
loins of an intelligent agent. May the Almighty 
deign to accept my services, and use them to his 
glory ; for my faculties and powers, endowments 
and capabilities, such as they are, were not given 
by man, nor of men did I receive them ; and there- 
fore to God I devoutly consecrate all I am." 

Patience in Tribulation. 

In 1842 Dr. Beaumont was visited with a sore 
affliction. Pie tells his mournful story thus: 
" My health has greatly, lamentably, failed me. 
In April I was seized with violent inflammation of 



32 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



my right hand and wrist. Pain — agonizing, deep- 
seated, grinding pain — I have had to struggle 
with, and this has gnawed the little flesh off my 
bones, and I have been looking wretched, emacia- 
ted, sunken, and woe begone indeed. My hand and 
wrist had been the scene of inflammation — violent, 
acute inflammation — and my constitution has been 
invaded, shaken, damaged, and reduced by disease. 
So I must now and henceforth deem myself un- 
sound- — a frail, fractured vessel ; an endangered, 
imperfect instrument ; a thing of naught. Let me 
not, however, be fretful or unthankful, misty and 
painful as the way is along which I am moving. 
Over the future thick shadows have been gather- 
ing, and portentous thunder-clouds have seemed 
to stretch across the pathway of my vision and of 
my footsteps. Murky vapors have rolled them- 
selves with embattled masses, on the fringes of 
which I have almost read the words, 'Thus far 
shaft thou go and no farther.' But He that made 
a highway for Israel through the Red Sea, and 
through the wilderness, and through the Jordan, 
can and may, and perhaps will, make a way for 
one of the most worthless of his servants to pass on 
in an humble career of pain and usefulness after 
th;s long halt, in pain and sorrow, in weakness 
and fear. To Him I commit myself ; to His holy 
will I have resigned my b.'ing with all its issues. 
I am forty-eight years old, and were life to close 
now something has been done and something has 
been suffered." 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 33 



Cheerfulness in Affliction. 

There was a vein of innocent pleasantry running 
through the Doctor that manifested itself even in 
the midst of pain. He never despaired. In the 
darkest hour he hoped on. Every storm had its 
bow of promise, and every cloud its silver lining. 

The Gout. 

The complaint of which he suffered so much was 
pronounced the gout, the rheumatic gout. He said, 
" Well, least of all should I have expected a vis- 
itation of gout, of which there are two sorts, the 
one rich and the other poor gout; and as mine 
cannot be the former it must be the latter." 

The Large Heart. 

Dr. Beaumont consulted Dr. Armstrong about 
the state of his heart, which at that time was be- 
lieved to be diseased. Dr. Armstrong, after having 
examined him, said he would stake his reputation 
that there was nothing the matter with his heart. 
Looking at him intensely and firmly, he said, 
c * There is nothing the matter with your heart, but 
it is a large heart and it is a sensitive heart." 
Years after, in relating this incident, Dr. Beau- 
mont said, " I know nothing about its large- 
ness, but with its sensitiveness I have had some 
acquaintance, and that has laid heavy burdens 
upon it." 
3 



34 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



The Venerable Tree. 

There was a venerable tree at Kingswood ren- 
dered immortal by John Wesley having preached 
to the colliers under its shade. It was a memorial 
of other days. In a severe storm in 1842 it blew 
down, and Dr. Beaumont thus wrote to his son 
Joseph : u So the crazy old sycamore came down in 
a gale. Well, I am pleased you have been under 
it when last it was standing — two generations of 
us having thus been familiar with this respectable 
piece of vegetable antiquity, with which so many 
pleasing associations are connected. I have sung 
and prayed under its branches nearly forty years 
ago, and you have mused under its bare branches 
and decaying trunk, and now it is gone ! Happy 
for us if when we shall have passed away from 
the living as many pleasing reminiscences shall 
embalm our names." 

Advice for a Young Lady. 

He writes to Mrs. Rowley concerning a young 
la ly friend. 

" My dear friend certainly is growing stron- 
ger both as woman and as a mind, as the letter 
you have sent proves to a demonstration. She has 
been cast in a noble mold, and well is she respond- 
ing to it. The soil will repay cultivation. Advise 
her to allow the sunlight of revelation, of heaven's 
own revelation, to stream through the cavities of 
her mind, and love and grace and truth and purity 
shall enrich it immeasurably, and there shall play 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 35 



upon it the same light which plays upon the ever- 
lasting hills, that bedecks the wings of cherubim, 
flashing and streaming from the Father of Lights, 
who sits enthroned in the highest heaven. And tell 
her that it is a sort of heaven to know that that rev- 
elation will infallibly lead all who follow it, and by 
whom it is absorbed, into the inner shrine of the 
eternal, there to gaze upon its unimaginable beauty 
with infinite ecstasy and ineffable delight for ever 
and for evermore ! " 

Beautiful Beginning and Conclusion. 

The commencement and the conclusion of his let- 
ters are inimitably happy. To a friend he wishes a 
happy new year thus : " May the revolutions of this 
our planet round the mighty sun be many ere 
your hand shall forget its cunning, and may He 
who formed it hold you in his own right hand, and 
infuse fresh streams of his intelligence and gracious- 
ness and joyousness into your being, ever more sur- 
rounding it with his guardianship, ennobling it with 
his truth and fullness, sublimating it with his holi- 
ness, satisfying it with his goodness, doing for you 
exceeding abundantly above all I can ask or think." 

He thus concludes a letter to his son: "While 
you grow in stature take care that you grow also 
in wisdom, and not only in favor with man but with 
God also." 

To a friend : " 'Tis winter. How happy the state 
in which there shall be no such thing ! May we dwell 

'Where everlasting spring abides 
And never withering flowers.' 



36 The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



To the Sun of Righteousness I commend you!" 
And again : " Let us dwell and revel, feed and 
dilate, in 

1 Love divine, all love excelling ; ' 

and may the Day Star arise in your heart, and may 
it throb and swell with this ineffable divine 
love!" 

Antislavery, Teetotal ism, and the Evangel- 
ical Alliance. 

The Doctor was ever ready to help every good 
work. He was a strong anti slavery man, and 
identified himself wdth teetotalism. He was a 
prominent member of the Evangelical Alliance, 
formed in London, August, 1846, and he did noble 
service in arranging the articles of faith which 
were the platform they agreed upon. After they 
had been adopted, with their amendments, the 
excellent Rev. Edward Bickersteth delivered an 
address. He began with, " Glory to God our 
heavenly Father, who has conducted us so harmo- 
niously to such results as have now been witnessed 
among us ! What a combination of solemn,weightv, 
all-important truths we have here to present to the 
whole Christian world. ... I rejoice that the mo- 
tion of Dr. Beaumont has been carried ; it has 
given me great pleasure, as many of his statements 
have done, and that he has had the comfort of 
having helped us in regard to the orderly arrange- 
ment of our doctrines." * This is a high commen- 

* Report of the Evangelical Alliance, page 190. 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



37 



dation considering the source from which it ema- 
nates; for they were grand men who composed 
that august body. 

Beaumont's Humor and Anecdotal Powers. 

Dr. Beaumont was distinguished for his rich 
humor. He was the life of the social circle, where 
he scattered sunshine all around. This sometimes 
appeared, too, in public, in the conference, and on 
the platform. He abounded with anecdotes, which 
he sometimes related with peculiar zest. He was 
sometimes as playful as a child, and yet as innocent 
as the lamb. 

At a certain time there was a missionary meet- 
ing, and the secretary read a doleful report concern- 
ing some heathen who had cut up Bibles and 
made sandals of them. The report produced a 
chill, and the audience looked sad. Dr. Beaumont 
was then introduced, and said : " Mr. Chairman, I 
feel greatly encouraged from that cheering report. 
There is, sir, one passage of Scripture I could never 
understand until I heard that report, and that is, 
they shall have their feet shod with the preparation 
of the gospel of peace." 

Ecclesiastical Difficulties. 

In regard to the Church, though a genuine 
Methodist, and clearly loving the cause to which 
he had devoted his life, he sympathized with the 
so called "Reformers;" and though he was never 
identified with them, his favor for them brought 



38 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



him somewhat under the ban of the conference ; 
but he was still unboundedly popular with the 
people. They offered to erect him a church edifice 
if he would leave the conference ; but he said " No ; 
whatever difficulties may arise, to leave Methodism 
would be to tear out my heart-strings." He was 
determined to stand by the old ship. 

Some one hinted in the conference that Dr. 
Beaumont could leave it if he was dissatisfied. The 
Doctor gave him an annihilating look, and said 
with tremendous emphasis, every feature of his 
countenance expressing the determinate resolution 
of his soul, " I am not going to throw away the 
sweat of my brow, and the work of my brain, for 
the forty years that are past" At another time 
some one was asserting something in the conference 
dogmatically. Dr. Beaumont inquired ironically : 
" Are we to understand that the conference is con- 
centrated in that brother ? " 

Dr. Beaumont was suspected of knowing who 
had written some documents offensive to the con- 
ference; but while he protested against being 
interrogated concerning the author or authors, 
said, a If I had written them I would have been 
ashamed to look my brethren in the face." 

A certain weak-kneed brother withdrew his ob- 
jection to being interrogated. Dr. Beaumont saw 
the brother's hat in a pew near him, and said, in a 
humorous tone, " I move the brother have leave 
to withdraw his hat also." 



The Wesley an Demosthe?ies. 



39 



Beaumont's Personal Appearance. 
We are always anxious to know the personal 
appearance of eminent men. Dr. Beaumont's son 
Joseph gives the following glowing description of 
his father: "He did not much excel the middle 
height, but he was powerful and well-proportioned, 
graceful and agile; his countenance was broad and 
massive, but molded with great refinement, and 
beaming with expressiveness. He was of fair com- 
plexion, somewhat ruddy, and every feature was 
marked with a striking individuality. His hair — in 
later years varying in color, now brown, now sil- 
ver, now nearly black — flowed almost unrestrained, 
and with singular softness and grace, over a brow 
which was remarkably lofty, delicately modeled, 
and to which its beautiful proportions and the open, 
expansive temples gave a magnified appearance. 
His eyes, which were small and deeply set, were 
of that brilliant blue which is more often talked of 
by poets and lovers than seen, themselves most 
eloquent, ever gleaming with the fire of an ardent 
soul, but full of love and tenderness. His mouth 
betokened all the wealth, and power, and sensi- 
tiveness of his character ; it was large and mobile, 
and, while full of earnestness and thought in its 
expression, it was constantly relieved by an ever- 
varying play of sentiment, humor, and kindliness. 
Nor were his other features or his contour wanting 
in expressiveness, but all aided to produce a 
countenance singularly brilliant, powerful, and at- 
tractive." 



4-0 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



Beaumont's Characteristics. 

Dr. Beaumont was distinguished for his domes- 
tic attachments, for decision of character, for a fine 
mind, for ripe scholarship, for untiling industry, 
for unwavering faith, for unfaltering courage, for 
his catholic spirit, for deep devotion, and for his 
intense love for Zion. 

He says : " I am jealous over myself. I would 
that all my motives were like so many moral 
crystals, that all my feelings were like so many 
waves of sunlight. I would be thankful, pure, 
high, truthful, untainted with self and pride." How 
strongly does this remind one of the apostle's ad- 
monition, which he would seem to have had in 
mind and to he modeling after: " Let no man 
think of himself more highly than he ought to 
think, but, in all lowliness of mind, let each esteem 
others better than himself." 

Beaumont as an Orator. 

Dr. Beaumont had all the peculiar qualities of 
an orator. He had not only a splendid presence, 
but a magnificent voice. It was not like Cicero's, 
silver-toned ; but like that of Demosthenes, organ- 
like. It was deep-toned, powerful, exceedingly 
mellifluous, and susceptible of exquisite modulation. 
It is said he had two voices, one bass, and the other 
tenor, and that he would change from one to the 
other at pleasure. He had, too, a fine imagination. 
Within him lay an ocean of thought and a world 
of genius. Every thing in nature and art he 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 41 



brought into contribution to aid him in impressing 
truth upon the minds and hearts of his auditors. 

His descriptive powers were astonishing, and 
every thing in his hands appeared truthful, life-like. 
His moral painting was perfect. When animated 
with his theme every thing was a picture, and his 
sermons a series of beautiful pictures. Nothing 
could be more complete than his imagery. Every 
thing lived and moved in his discourses. If he 
spoke of the creation, you could see the Creator 
bespangling the heavens ; if he spoke of angels, his 
hearers could see their golden pinions, and hear the 
melody of their voices. If he described the celes- 
tial city, his hearers saw the white-robed multitude 
with their palms of victory, and heard their songs 
of joy and shouts of triumph. 

He had a wonderful command of language, as 
w T ell as a knowledge of the different shades of 
meaning. All the riches and treasures of language 
were at his command ; his ideas and words flowed 
from him like water from a spring or from an 
overflowing fountain. 

Dr. Beaumont had most vivid conceptions and 
deep feelings, that burned within him as an in- 
ternal fire. His heart was as a fountain that sent 
out in living streams the light and love and power 
that dwelt within him. The sacred fire glowed 
within him, the baptism of fire rested upon him ; 
so his were "thoughts that breathe and words 
that burn." He had amazing sympathy, so 
he could touch the fountain of tears, and whole 
audiences were moved and melted and subdued 



42 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



under his living pathos, his touching tenderness 
From the first he had command over them, so he 
molded them at his will and melted them into 
tears. 

Beaumont's Peculiarities as a Preacher. 

Dr. Beaumont was distinguished, as a preacher, 
for originality. He studied the best sermons in 
the English and other languages for models of 
style, but he was no man's copyist. He never 
made a display with borrowed feathers. There is 
said to be a slight resemblance between his style 
and that of Jeremy Taylor and Bishop Hall. 

Beaumont's discourses were not moral essays — 
he preached. He was an expounder of the word. 
He was like Apollos, " mighty in the Scriptures." 
This was his forte. Here he showed himself a 
skilled workman. 

He was an extemporaneous preacher. He stud- 
ied his sermons. He prepared them with great 
care. They were written, but he never read them 
in the pulpit. He sometimes had a skeleton with 
him, but he made little use of it. It would have 
been a singular sight to have beheld this son of thun- 
der, whose words rushed forward like Niagara, 
carrying along every thing with them, reading his 
sermons. We might as well think of angels sing- 
ing redemption's anthem over the plains of Bethle- 
hem from a note-book. 

His sermons were distinguished for power. He 
preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from 
heaven. They were delivered with tremendous 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 43 



unction, with overwhelming pathos. He under- 
stood the great secret of successful preaching — 
adaptation. The introduction to his sermon was 
brief and natural, the conclusion powerful. He 
believed, with some old writer, that "application is 
the life of preaching, and self-application the life 
of the preacher." 

Beaumont's Description of his Sermons. 

Dr. Beaumont gives a description of his preach- 
ing, and it is full of interest : " On Sunday last, Nov. 
18, 1841, I preached at Pitt-street, Liverpool, on 
'He shall swallow up death in victory,' and at 
night from Job xi, 4, and xiii, 5, 6. I struggled 
with the great idea of the Xdumenn patriarch, that 
the felt presence of God subdued him to penitence 
and lowly abasement, and that the presence of God 
in his physical perfections, in which the power of 
Jehovah is so wondrously displayed ; and then I 
argued that as is his power so is his purity, and 
hence the deep and salutary impression described 
in the language from which I discoursed to the 
people." 

The next Sabbath Dr. Beaumont preached in the 
City Road Chapel, London. He says : u The weather 
was most forbidding, therefore in the morning the 
chapel was not full ; but the Gospel, I believe, was 
there in its fullness, not in word only but in power. 
I have seldom felt more deeply and delightfully, 
or spoken with more or visible effect. The atten- 
tion of the congregation was solemn and affect- 
ing, and I can never forget it. The secretion 



44 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



from a certain gland near the eye was manifest- 
ed to a large extent over the congregation — the 
flashes of truth, the tides of feeling, the emotions 
of the preacher were spread over the audience, 
and not, I pray, in vain. The text in the morning 
was from Romans iii, 22 : c Even the righteousness 
of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, 
and upon all them that believe ; for there is no dif- 
ference.' The sermon was an hour and ten minutes 
long." 

The reader will not wonder at its length when 
he considers its breadth and its depth. It is 
a discourse of uncommon beauty, brilliancy, and 
power. To read it, even now, moves and melts the 
heart, and stirs the depths of the soul. What must 
it have been to have heard it from the lips of that 
impassioned orator, when, full of his subject, and 
the unction of the Holy One resting upon him, it 
must have thrilled his auditors like the music of 
the upper sanctuary — like the melody of the skies. 
I have just read it, and it has moved my heart, 
melted my soul, and bedewed my cheeks with tears. 

The reader will rejoice to find this discourse in 
the volume of sermons, the seventh in number, 
which will well repay his reading. 

The same evening he preached from Phil, ii, 
5-11, from, " Who being in the form of God, 
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, 55 etc. 
Take it altogether, it is a mighty text, a tremen- 
dous theme. I am sorry this is not among his 
printed sermons. Dr. Beaumont says concerning 
it : u The chapel was crowded, and I preached 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 45 



with considerable freedom and enlargement ; but 
it was physically impossible so to speak and feel 
as in the morning. Two such states and conditions 
of mind and body within six and seven hours is 
impossible. Yet the immense assembly hung on 
the words that flowed for an hour and twenty 
minutes, and absorbed them as the thirsty land 
drinks in the shower. Really there must be no 
small elasticity in my personal substance to admit 
of these continued exertions. Still I am dissatis- 
fied with myself, and would fain flee from all dis- 
quietude and anxious care, from doubt and fear, 
from sin and hell, to that wondrous One who rises 
on the soul and on the world with healing in his 
wings.' 

Beaumont as a Platform Speaker. 

Dr. Beaumont was distinguished as a platform 
speaker and had great celebrity among other de- 
nominations. He made a missionary address at 
the jubilee of the London Missionary Society in Dr. 
Raffles' church, with Dr. Raffles and others. 

Beaumont and Sir Robert Peel. 

These men had frequently met, and for Sir Rob- 
ert Peel Dr. Beaumont had a high regard. In 1847 
Sir Robert presided at the anniversary of the Tain - 
worth Bible Society, of which he was president 
and patron. Dr. Beaumont was one of the princi- 
pal speakers, and delivered a characteristic address 
that astonished his audience and charmed Sir Rob- 
ert. His speech is said to have been " argumenta- 



46 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



tive, comprehensive, finished, perfect." His first 
sentence was, u We are meeting in conformity with 
the great law of the universe — diffusion — which is 
the law of the physical universe, and prevails there, 
as it is also the law of the moral universe, and a 
law that prevails there too when ignorance, prej- 
udice, and self-interest do not come in to thwart 
it." At the close of the meeting Sir Robert went up 
to him, and, cordially shaking him by the hand, 
said, "I am happy to have the pleasure of 
making your acquaintance," and he afterward in- 
quired of a friend where Dr. Beaumont regularly 
officiated. 

Dr. Beaumont so highly esteemed the character of 
Sir Robert Peel that after his death he preached a 
funeral sermon in reference to him. 

Beaumont and Dr. Olin. 
Dr. Beaumont delighted in interviews with 
great men from America, and was ever ready to 
do them justice. 

He says (in Dec. 1840:) "I was called upon by 
Dr. Olin, of America, who is on his way back to 
that roomy country, after touring it on the conti- 
nent to Rome, Geneva, the Levant, and so on. He 
is a first-rate man — intellectual, learned, command- 
ing, vigorous; very tall in person, and seems to 
have a mind of similar height. He informed me 
that he owed his conversion instrumentally to Dr. 
Adam Clarke's Commentary, which he formerly 
searched merely for the literature, philosophy, 
history, and criticism, c with which it is stored,' 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 47 



said he, 4 as the ark was with all manner of seeds 
for the life of a new world.' While reading from 
that wonderful production, he every now and then 
stumbled on a portion of the Commentary which 
struck his heart, and rushed with mighty force 
through his conscience. So he was led to seek 
the truth, and £/ia£ followed which ever does follow 
the clearly apprehending and really believing the 
truth as it is in Jesus — a new creation. He 
remarked that the Bible, the Book of Discipline, 
and Dr. Clarke's Commentary form the library 
of the great body of the Methodists in America. 
'The Commentary,' he says, c has an extraordinary 
hold and reception there.' " 

Beaumont and Dr. Durbin. 

In August, 1841, Dr. Beaumont heard Rev. Dr. 
J. P. Durbin preach in the City Road Chapel, 
London. He says, " He preached a good, clear, 
short sermon on justification, from the five last 
verses in the fourth chapter of Romans." 

Reminiscences of Dr. Beaumont. 

Such has been my admiration for Dr. Beaumont 
for many years that I have delighted to converse 
with those who had seen and heard him and with 
pleasure have listened to their description of him 
and his preaching. Over twenty years ago a 
local preacher born in the same town with the 
Doctor and who knew him intimately, gave me 
the following reminiscences concerning him : 



48 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



THE DEDICATION OF A CHAPEL. 

In 1829 a chapel was dedicated in South wark 
one Wednesday. Dr. Adam Clarke preached in 
the morning and Robert Newton in the evening. 
They were massive sermons. On the Sabbath fol- 
lowing Theophilus Lessey preached, in the morn- 
ing, a masterly discourse from Eph. iii, 10, " The 
manifold wisdom of God" In the afternoon Dr. 
Beaumont preached. Before he took his text he 
looked around the platform, (on which were seated 
a number of the preachers, among them Mr. Les- 
sey,) and said " Ah ! Brother Lessey, you robbed 
me of my text in the former part of the day ; but, 
thank God! his 4 manifold wisdom' you spoke of 
so gloriously has provided me with another," and 
then he impressively read for his text, "It is a 
faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that 
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." 
With his usual vigor he began, and with his usual 
rapidity he dashed into the subject and into his 
congregation, rousing among his hearers elements 
previously unknown and unfelt. On hearing this 
original production — these master thoughts on 
such old things as sin and salvation, of sinners and 
of a Saviour for all — the Gospel never vibrated so 
sweetly before or sent forth such melodious sounds. 
Beaumont's first appearance and first efforts every- 
where only increased a desire on the part of his 
hearers for another visit 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 49 



BIBLE MEETING. 

This local preacher invited him to attend a Bible 
meeting in the place where he lived. 

The dignitaries were there, the elite of the place. 
Dr. Beaumont was introduced by the chairman. 
He made a most brilliant address, thrilling and 
captivating the audience. He went through his 
subject like a master workman, dealing out stub- 
born facts and striking incidents ; now exhibiting 
the power of divine truth, and then showing the 
signal triumphs of divine grace ; both in the case 
of the living and the dead, at home and abroad — 
wrought chiefly by the lively oracles of God. Never 
had there been held such a meeting in that place ; 
never before had that society received such a 
mighty impetus; on no occasion was the treasury 
so enlarged. Joseph Beaumont was unknown there, 
and they were astonished at such overpowering 
eloquence. From that time his fame was spread 
abroad in all that region. 

MISSIONARY MEETING. 

There was a great missionary meeting at South- 
wark ; Rev. Mr. Gaulter, venerable for years, Rob- 
ert Newton, T. Lessey, and Dr. Beaumont were the 
speakers. After the rest had spoken, Dr. Beau- 
mont was introduced by the chairman. The hero 
of the field came forward to the front of the plat- 
form with a " full head of steam on," and he rolled 
forth unceasingly volumes of the most stirring and 
striking images drawn from the book of Revelation. 

4 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



In that memorable speech he introduced a bright 
thought of surpassing eloquence from Homer's 
Iliad illustrative of feeble man engaging in the 
all important work of saving men, "threshing the 
mountains, pulling them up by the roots." 

He quoted the beautiful words of Charles Wes- 
ley, as only Beaumont could quote them : 

u See liow great a flame aspires, 

Kindled by a spark of grace ! 
Jesus' love the nations fires, 

Sets the kingdoms on a blaze," etc. 

During the address he was tremendously excited, 
and he rushed forward like a race horse. When 
Dr. Beaumont sat down amid the astonishment and 
admiration of a vast crowd, the venerable chairman 
(Mr. Gaulter) arose, and, with a countenance full of 
mischief, in the most playful manner said to Dr. 
Beaumont, " Bless you, my boy, I love to hear you 
speak ; but that bright thought you so happily 
played with, and which told so forcibly upon us, 
was not original ; it was not your own ; I know," 
said Gaulter humorously, " from whence you stole 
that gem." This aroused Beaumont, whose bright 
eyes shone with additional luster, as he ran his 
fingers through his long locks which hung in ring- 
lets, at the same time showing his small, well-set 
teeth, and giving Mr. Gaulter a wonderful look. 
Robert Newton enjoyed it, and laughed outright, 
shaking his broad sides exceedingly. 

The meeting for interest, warmth of feeling, 
power, and efficiency, exceeded by far any that had 
been held in that place. 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 51 



Beaumont's Beauty of Style. 

A gentleman told me he heard Dr. Beaumont 
preach on the martyrdom of Stephen : " And they 
stoned Stephen . . . and . . . he. fell asleep," and 
it was overwhelmingly grand. " Fell asleep ! " said 
the Doctor : " Stephen was stoned. Fell asleep ! 
Stephen was murdered. Fell asleep ! " said he, 
" Amid a shower of stonss. To go to sleep un- 
der such circumstances was peculiar. Asleep — 
asleep in Jesus, at the close of the day of life." A 
Congregational minister heard him with transcend- 
ent delight, and said, it was the master-piece of 
all the sermons he had ever heard. 

Another heard his sermon on " Peter's Walking on 
the Water." Such was its beauty and grandeur, it 
made a lifetime impression on him. Also, from 
" God so loved the world." Inimitably beautiful ! 
Another was u captivated, thrilled, and awed," as 
the Doctor preached from, a It doth not yet appear 
what we shall be." 

It may be thought I have exaggerated his pow- 
ers of eloquence, and therefore I adduce testimo- 
nials. 

The annexed graphic description of Dr. Beau- 
mont is from the gifted pen of the late Robert A. 
West, a gentleman who was personally acquainted 
with Dr. Beaumont, and who held him in high 
estimation. His description does no more than 
justice to the Doctor's amazing powers : 

"The fame of the Rev. Dr. Beaumont as a preacher 
is not confined to " Albion's sea-girt isle." It has 



52 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



reached this continent, and it is no uncommon thing 
to hear his name mentioned, not only by those of 
his countrymen who are now residents in the 
United States, but by Americans who have visited 
England, and, attracted by his high reputation, 
have sought opportunities of listening to his elo- 
quent advocacy of the truth. These differ, as was 
to be expected, in their estimate of his pulpit 
talents and the degree of admiration they accord 
to him. Some think him too vehement, others are 
led captive by his earnestness ; some think his 
imagination excessive and his imagery bordering 
upon extravagance, others find an imposing charm 
in his exuberance of fancy ; some think him not 
sufficiently argumentative and logical, and others 
again admire his power of declamation and of pic- 
torial representation. But they all, so far as per- 
sonal observation extends, agree that he is a man 
of wonderful genius, sincere and zealous in his holy 
vocation, possessing, in a remarkable degree, the 
power of swaying the hearts of his hearers, and 
eminently fitted to keep upon their watch-towers, 
or lead on to conquests, any division of the army 
of the living God of which he may be in com- 
mand. 

"In a remarkable degree Dr. Beaumont, as a 
pulpit orator, affords room for this variety of 
opinion, while the tout ensemble entirely justifies 
the agreement in which all those opinions meet. 
He is altogether an extraordinary man, under who-e 
ministry it is always profitable and delightful to 
sit, yet whose defects immediately arrest the at- 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 53 



tention of the intelligent and observant hearer. His 
very eloquence is peculiar, and heightens both the 
beauties and blemishes of his style. At times it 
has all the impetuosity of a rushing torrent, leaping 
down rapids, bounding over rocks, and dashing- 
through ravines, that seem to echo and reverberate 
with its roar. But then it lias also its lull in 
almost equal proportions, when it seems to sleep 
in its placid bed, or ripples with wondrously sweet 
music between its flowery banks. In these more 
quiet moments the hearer has time to look back on 
the scenery through which he has passed ; and 
reflection, which was held in abeyance to the 
pleasing turbulence of emotion, is brought into 
play. He remembers a succession of sublime and 
beautiful imagery, of vivid pictures drawn with 
all the boldness and distinctness of reality ; but 
they have rapidly receded from view, the very per- 
fection of each having tended to supplant the im- 
pression of the former. Or, speaking more strictly, 
the hearer has been so captivated by the startling 
rapidity of majestic objects that he has not ob- 
served the windings of the stream, or whither its 
course was leading him, and, while lost in admi- 
ration of the pictorial beauty of the scene, lias 
had no time for investigation and analysis. 

64 There is in his sermons more of illustra- 
tion than logic, of declamation than argument. 
Light flashes upon the audience at every turn ; 
but it is the sudden blaze of genius, rather than 
the steady effulgence of ripe and matured 
thought. 



54 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



" He has more to do with the heart and eon- 
science than with metaphysical distinctions ; with 
the business and bosoms of men than with the 
schools, though he is by no means unversed in 
their teachings. The arrangement of his discourses 
has reference to the points available for effect, and 
is so far in accordance with their matter and the 
manner of their delivery. 

" As a pulpit orator, perhaps he has no superior 
in effective ministration of the word; and I appre- 
hend he is at this day as popular as any minister 
in the Wesleyan Connection, unless Dr. Newton 
be an exception. Whenever he preaches, either in 
his own circuit or elsewhere, he commands over- 
flowing congregations. Like Dr. Newton, he is 
popular with all. It is not with either the higher or 
lower classes alone that he finds favor; not with 
the purely intellectual and refined alone, any more 
than with those only, of whom there are always 
too many, who live mainly upon emotion or 
excitement. The literate and illiterate alike 
crowd to hear him, and reap pleasure and profit 
from his ministry. Even the profound thinker, 
while he feels that, to some extent, there is a fall- 
ing short of the standard congenial to his tastes, 
still gathers a harvest of brilliant ideas, and feels 
the impetus of his impassioned utterance. Indeed, 
none can resist it. T >Yhen the gush of feeling is 
upon him, when the glow oi genius is kindled, the 
fire in his bones consumes every thing before it. 
Light bursts from every sentence, now with the 
fierceness of the "forked lightning's glare/' now 



The Weslcyan Demosthenes. 



55 



with the sublime but softened beauty of the elec- 
tric flash behind the summer cloud, and anon with 
the splendor of the midday sun and with 
its burning heat. Image upon image is piled with 
majestic grandeur and dazzling gorgeousness ; a 
moment after, the minutest forms of created things 
are pressed into the preacher's service for the illus- 
tration of his subject ; and all so instinct with life 
that it seems as though the real, rather than the 
ideal, was present before the audience. Sometimes, 
indeed, the preacher seems himself to be the per- 
sonation of the symbol employed, so perfectly does 
he embody his idea, and so entirely in keeping is 
every intonation and action. I remember one re- 
markable instance of this, though the occasion is 
now so remote that I cannot recall the speaker's fe- 
licitous language, and, therefore, the figure will be 
shorn of much of its beauty. 

" Dr. Beaumont was preaching in one of the Sal- 
ford (Manchester) chapels. In the progress of the 
discourse he was led to speak of the 6 riches of 
wisdom and knowledge ' and consolation which 
the true believer might gather from the sacred 
word. It was 1 sweeter than honey or the honey- 
comb.' But it was by diligent searching only 
that its hidden treasures could be secured. Car- 
rying out the idea, he depicted the bee, industri- 
ously prosecuting its search for honey, darting 
across the cultivated garden, sipping nectar and 
lading itself w r ith store-honey from every opening 
flower ; now flying over the wide-spread moor, 
finding treasures of sweetness even in the modest 



56 



The Weslcyan Demosthenes. 



flowers of wild thyme and the delicately tinted 
petals of the humble heather, and anon humming 
blithely its merry, grateful song, as it sought its 
homeward way by the deep ravine, and even there 
found new treasures as it alighted for a moment 
upon the lowly primrose or retiring violet. But no 
types, no language, especially where memory is the 
only guide, can convey to the reader a tithe of the 
beauties of the illustration as orally presented by 
the preacher. Placing the Bible under his arm, 
and pressing it to his heart as a treasure ' more 
precious than rubies,' he dwelt in measured cadence 
upon the picture, adapting his intonations so ex- 
actly to the rapid movements, the sudden baitings 
and startings of the laborious insect, that hearers 
seemed to journey with him through garden, and 
moorland, and clefts of rocks, and almost to see 
the ideal insect, and hear its joyful hum, as it now 
hovered over the inviting flower, or, rejoicing over 
its spoils, sped its rapid flight to its refuge and 
home. I have listened to not a few glowing scenes 
from nature, but never heard I so perfect a poetic 
impersonation — for it was more than painting; 
it had life, and motion, and voice. And such dis- 
plays of pictorial power were by no means rare. I 
marvel not at Dr. Beaumont's popularity, he has all 
the elements of it, with an abundant zeal which 
spares no strength or labor in his master's ser- 
vice." * 

Another friend of mine, who often heard Dr. 
Beaumont preach, and was his enthusiastic admirer 
* Sketches of Wesleyan Preachers. 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



57 



thus writes his recollections of the great Wesleyan 
orator : 

" Dr. Beaumont was about five and a half feet in 
height; he was a well built, healthy looking man. 
His hair was auburn, his eyes were small and dark 
blue, his countenance beamed with intelligence and 
benignity. He was dignifie d and commanding in 
his appearance, and you saw at once he was no or- 
dinary man. His glance was quick and penetrat- 
ing, his step firm and manly, his whole appear- 
ance conveying the idea of self-reliance. He 
was affable, kind, generous and gentlemanly, 
and yet prepared, with all due deference to others, 
to maintain with manly and Christian firmness 
his own cherished principles. Such was the 
man. 

" In the pulpit he was king, wielding massive 
thoughts in a right royal manner, and with the 
sweetness, beauty and pathos of one whose heart 
was running over with tenderness, and continually 
sending out a flame of love. 

u Men of letters, taste and poetry, as well as the 
rustics from the plow, alike heard him, and under 
his breathing thoughts and burning words felt, 
wept, trembled and rejoiced together, being moved 
and melted under the magic influence of his over- 
powering eloquence. 

a The trembling of his frame, the raising of his 
hand, the shaking of his head, the stamp of his foot, all 
gave impressiveness to his utterances. His thoughts 
were massive, expressed in choice and well-selected 
language, accompanied by an unction from the 



58 The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



Holy One. His sentences were like pearls, polished 
and set, forming a diadem of truth and beauty. 

" I heard him at Wesley Chapel, Birmingham, 
from, 'For the soul to be without knowledge is not 
good.' The effort was. stupendous, and one great 
thought seemed to pervade all minds, that igno- 
rance was the principal occasion of vice. 

" I heard him also from 6 He saved others, himself 
he cannot save.' He startled us by the first sen- 
tence. He said, ' We have here, first, a great truth ; 
second, a palpable lie.' He inverted their order. C I 
shall demonstrate the last, and then show the truth 
of the first proposition. 5 He showed that He who 
was almighty could save himself. He dwelt upon 
his infinite resources : that he who gave himself to 
save men could have saved himself; that all the 
soldiers in Jerusalem could not have hung him 
upon the cross, nor all the nails in Palestine have 
kept him there if he had not willed it. But when 
he came to exhibit the fact ^Ile saved others J the 
effect was overwhelming, and a general shout 
of joy and gratitude made the crowded church 
ring. 

fit I can never forget the thrilling effect of his ser- 
mon on Q The Barren Fig-tree.' There was won- 
drous grandeur in that descriptive sermon. The 
sinner was made to feel that if lost he was the 
author of his own damnation ; why he w r as spared 
so long, and how reluctantly the Master at last 
cried, fc Cut it down ; cut it down.' No w r onder 
scores were awakened and the altar crowded with 
mourners. His preaching was truly eloquent. It 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 59 



was not mere art, but the natural eloquence of a 
great man ; not mere euphonious sounds, not the 
eloquence of words, not the eloquence of action : 
all these were present, but it was the eloquence of 
thought, of feeling, of truth, of the heart, as well 
as the tongue, that gave the sermon its astonishing 
power." 

Some one thus describes Dr. Beaumont's manner 
of preaching : 

" His imagination was most fervent and poetic. 
In his sermons he aimed at simplicity — at being at 
once understood and felt. He seemed to avoid 
mere doctrinal and metaphysical disquisitions, and 
to delight to spread before his congregations rich 
supplies of simple Gospel truths. These he illus- 
trated and enforced with wonderful precision, 
power, earnestness, and pathos. He touched the 
innermost recesses of the heart, not only of the poor 
and simple, but also of the fastidious and refined. 
His occasional repetition of a sentence was so 
effectual as to add to its force, frequently to its 
clearness ; and indeed often, from his remarkable 
manner, this peculiarity had the effect of a commen- 
tary or extension of his sentences. We have heard 
him when he has risen to the very sublime of elo- 
quence, and when he has swayed his fascinated au- 
dience as with an enchanter's rod. He knew well 
when he had reached his height of power in an ad- 
dress, and as the great master-mind he has at such 
times, by the utterance of a few words, evoked a 
universal sympathy with his theme, and raised a 
shout of praise from the excited and delighted 



6o The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



multitudes before him which has been absolutely 
deafening. Take an instance. He is in one of 
the largest and finest chapels in the center of En- 
gland ; pews and aisles are crowded with the rich 
and the poor, with people of refined taste and the 
vulgar, with all classes of temperament, from the 
phlegmatic to the emotional. His subject is 
Matt, xxi, 10: 'Who is this?' Already has he 
had breathless attention for an hour ; he has 
wrought upon all the feelings of the human breast 
in his graphic descriptions of the character, and life, 
and claims of Jesus ; every heart has felt the force 
of truth, and is prepared for any response he may 
demand. Rapid sentences are uttered, presenting 
vivid pictures of the march of the procession down 
the Mount of Olives, across the Valley of Jehosha- 
phat, over the brook Kedron, up the steep leading 
into the city ; the gathering crowds upon the way, 
the rising shouts of the rejoicing multitudes rever- 
berating from side to side of the valley; the won- 
der of the people within the city as the loud 
hosannas reach them ; women looking out from their 
lattices, and men from the street and walls, in the 
direction of the sound ; and men and women, Phari- 
sees and publicans, rulers and people, exclaiming, as 
the principal figure in the whole arrests their gaze, 
6 Who is this ? 5 6 Who is this ? 5 he shouted in 
reply: 'Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee!' 
and then, enumerating the principal titles and 
claims advanced in his discourse, such as ' Jesus, 
Immanuel, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace, 
the Star of Jacob, the Lamb of God, the Friend of 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 61 



sinners, the Saviour of the world ! 5 he shouted in a 
still higher strain, ^ Halleluia ! ' The effect was 
electrical. c Halleluia ! ' thundered the vast con- 
gregation, as with one voice. Conscious of the 
sway he had acquired, again his royal voice rolled 
forth its power: 'Jesus, Immanuel, the Mighty 
God, the Prince of Peace, the Star of J acob, the 
Lamb of God, the Friend of sinners, the Saviour 
of the world.! Halleluia!' 'Halleluia! 5 again 
thundered out the people, and w r ith a voice so deaf- 
ening as to constrain us to put our fingers into our 
ears. He was an c eloquent man, and mighty in the 
Scriptures. Acts xviii, 24." 

The late Rev. John Trippett, in a letter dated 
Sheffield, Sept. 3, 1845, says : 

" The celebrated Dr. Beaumont, one of the most 
distinguished preachers in the Wesleyan Connec- 
tion, preached his valedictory sermon in Brunswick 
Chapel, Liverpool, on Sunday evening, the 24th 
ultimo, to a most densely crowded auditory, which 
he held in almost breathless silence for over an hour. 

" This distinguished man has labored for six con- 
secutive years in the far-famed port above men- 
tioned, always drawing vastly crowded houses, 
which he often electrified, and sometimes almost 
galvanized, by his powerful and brilliant bursts of 
eloquence. On the occasion in question we had 
peal after peal and stroke after stroke of manly 
oratory, which often caused a singular sensation to 
steal over the whole frame, as if some magnetic 
influence passed over the mighty mass of people 
there assembled. 



62 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



" It was an interesting occasion. The preacher 
had a twofold object in view by his subject, which 
he sustained with singular ability ; the one was the 
benefit of the day, and the Sabbath-schools con- 
nected with the circuit; the other, taking leave 
of an affectionate people, with whom he and his 
two excellent colleagues had lived in love and 
harmony for three fleeting years. 

{t The doctor felt deeply at the time, as a few 
brief introductory remarks bore ample testimony, 
while they served to enlist the feelings of the au- 
dience in his behalf. His subject was founded on 
Psalm cxviii, 22, 23, a text which one would sup- 
pose not the most appropriate for such an occasion ; 
but he informed his hearers immediately on its 
announcement that his object was to exhibit before 
them in his last sermon the glory and exaltation of 
his Divine Master, and to have that on their minds 
rather than himself. 

" To give a description of the man, and his man- 
ner of preaching Christ and him crucified, would 
not be an easy task. He is about the middle size, 
and possesses a quick, piercing eye, which seems to 
take in at one sweep the character of his audience. 
His mind is rich and fertile, amply stored with 
science and theological knowledge, which he often 
blends together most delightfully in many of 
his sermons ; so that while he is highly calculated 
to rouse, he instructs his audience at the same time. 

" His voice, we presume to think, was never one 
of the most musical, and yet the softer tones are 
far from being unpleasant. He seems to lift many 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



63 



of his words from the abdominal muscles, a practice 
he has probably acquired from having a serious 
difficulty in articulation, arising from a defect in 
the palate. The voice passing through this physic- 
al difficulty, the higher notes are often extreme- 
ly harsh, and labor is required to articalate words 
distinctly; and a full break and a long pause 
often follow where a stranger would not expect 
them. 

" But aside from these natural defects he possess- 
es the peculiar power, as a public speaker, of 
rising to the highest and descending to the lowest 
notes, of any man we ever remember to have 
heard. When he wishes to press upon the hearts 
of his hearers some weighty theological truth, his 
action is most vehement, and he pounds the Bible 
in a most merciless manner, while the frequent 
contortions of his body are often painful to the 
more delicate part of his audience. 

tfi From the great crowds that follow him, and 
the heated atmosphere in which he is often obliged 
to preach, together with the highly laborious style 
of his preaching, he often, perhaps most gen- 
erally, becomes quite bathed in perspiration, and 
frequently saturates several pocket-handkerchief's 
during one discourse. This he did on the Sabbath 
evening we had the pleasure of hearing hiin. Such 
a man, to preach and labor in such a manner, in an 
American summer would all but melt away, and 
would quickly find a premature grave. His name 
and fame are often trumpeted over the nation in 
the public prints."' 



6 4 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes, 



A correspondent of the North-western Chris- 
tian Advocate thus writes concerning Dr. Beau- 
mont : — 

" This eminent servant of God was, beyond all 
doubt, a man of true genius. This was abundantly 
evident in the originality of his manner, the 
sparkling freshness of his thoughts, and the burn- 
ing eloquence of his words. He was of the genus 
of Chalmers and Irving ; but he nevertheless imi- 
tated no preacher, living or dead ; and yet, in the 
soundness, simplicity, and vividness of his dis- 
courses, he shone, not with the erratic glare of a 
meteor, but with the steady luster of a planet. As 
a preacher, he rarely, if ever, left the great central 
truths of the Christian system, but urged their 
doctrines with a force, and life, and vehemence not 
often witnessed. His natural eloquence frequently 
approached the rapturous and the sublime. In 
private, as well as in official, life he was genial, 
generous, and liberal ; and he cultivated the most 
friendly relations toward other denomina:ions of 
Christians. If he had a fault, it was that of too 
compassionate a heart, and that he formed too 
noble an estimate of his feilow-men." 

The following is from " The Lamps of the Tem- 
ple ; Shadows from the Lights of the Modern Pul- 
pit a work published in London in 1852, giving 
a description of some of the most splendid pulpit 
oraturs of the age — the gifted Thomas Binney, the 
elegant Henry Melville, the gorgeous Richard 
Winter Hamilton, the profound James Parsons, 
the scholastic John Cumming, the eloquent Rob- 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 65 



ert Newton and Dr. Joseph Beaumont. Speaking 
of him, the author says : — 

" A review of the pulpit oratory of England would 
be very incomplete, however, that did not present 
something more even than a passing notice of Dr. 
Beaumont. The?*e are few towns in England where 
his voice has not been heard, and the style of his 
oratory, alike in its verbal and oral characteristics, is 
very peculiar. No style can be conceived better 
calculated to impress and to arouse a vast popular 
audience. He reminds us, in many particulars, of 
Robert Hall's description of Toller of Kettering : 
6 The simple declaration of the truth, of truth of 
infinite moment, borne in upon the heart by a 
mind intensely alive to its grandeur. Criticism was 
disarmed ; the hearer felt himself elevated to a 
region which it could not penetrate. All was 
powerless submission to the master of the scene.' 
All that can be said of Beaumont's preaching is, 
that it exhibits a heart all alive, full of honest and 
of noble impulses, and deriving additional power 
from the charms of a peculiarly well-furnished and 
observant mind — a mind awake to every kind of 
beauty — an eye kindling with rapture at every 
scenic impression — a memory well-furnished with 
the stores of historical anecdote, or scientific allu- 
sion, or the graces of verbal elegance and diction. 

u The preaching of Dr. Beaumont is wonderfully 
calculated for extensive popularity. He will ever 
be a popular minister who is able to interpret, by 
analogy, his meaning ; and Dr. Beaumont is the 
very prince of analogical preachers. His figures 
* 5 



66 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



abound throughout his discourses, but they are not 
mere tropes of speech ; they are at once graphic 
delineations, and perfect symbols. You feel that 
you understand the subject better by them, that 
they indeed form a part of the subject ; that they 
are the body, containing the soul, of the discourse. 

" Our preacher has delighted us, has instructed us, 
has elevated us ; but we have ever thought of him 
as we indeed could conceive him, and as we have 
heard of him ; for he can raise a tempest, or hush 
it into silence. His power is great ; he can breathe 
out his pure, beautiful, quiet, and blessed sentences 
and emotions and figures softly as a summer gale 
at twilight, or he can hurry his words along, and 
brood over the pulpit like a very storm-spirit, 
while every breast heaves beneath the volumes of 
his power. We have been pleased to notice too — 
for we have seen him upon some such occasions — 
that the moments of the greatest rapture and pas- 
sion in the minds of the audience are those when 
he is most collected. He just hovers and flutters 
above the people like an eagle dipping his wings in 
the sunny cloud or rainbow ; or, if you prefer the 
simpler figure, say, a skylark skirting the fringe of 
the distant cloud ; every eye is upturned to the dis- 
tant wing ; you hear the voice, you see the wing 
up there — there, beating about in the deep blue of 
the heavens, a thing of glory and beauty. Will it 
pass out of sight? will it enter the infinite and 
travel away? Wildly, wildly wanders the winged 
voice ; breathless is the silence as the notes flow 
on ; it is rapture, rapture ; for it is nature flying to 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



67 



the bosom of the Father and the God ; and sudden- 
ly you are relieved, for the beautiful singer is on 
the sward, in the nest, at home. So suddenly does 
our speaker in his best flights drop from the most 
elevated regions, releasing his audiences from the 
deep and wrapt attention with which they had fol- 
lowed him in his flight. 

" After these remarks, then, it is almost unneces- 
sary to say, Dr. Beaumont is a glorious platform 
speaker, for his humor is happy, and flows along 
cheerfully without a ripple or a current. 

" Dr. Beaumont is singularly felicitous as a plat- 
form speaker ; yet he is almost the only speaker 
whose style upon the platform does not materially 
differ from the style of the pulpit — the same love 
of the play of fancy, the same proneness to anec- 
dote and illustration ; he plays over his auditors 
not like forked, but like sheet lightning ; you see 
power, but power in perfect good humor ; there is 
no strut, no attempt, no cant ; all is so easy and 
natural, and yet the voice rises and rolls ; for, 
whatever we may say about impediments, it 
has compass, and, as the lightning plays, it brings 
innumerable things to light — dews hanging upon 
the petals of flowers, or raindrops trembling on 
the thorn ; brings, at the same time, into bold re- 
lief the tall, dark mountains, and makes the stone 
lying at the foot sparkle with unwonted brilliancy, 
or lights up with strange loveliness some tarn 
among the hills, or river winding on its way." 

The following is from the 4t Wesleyan Takings, 55 
second volume : 



68 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



"Power, apart from other considerations, is the 
leading character of his ministry. When he starts, 
it gives us the idea of some mighty machinery put 
in motion : off goes the check — clank go the chains 
— round go the wheels ; all is motion, tremendous 
power. . . . From the occasional violence of his 
manner, it is doubtful whether some occupations 
in manual labor are more laborious exercises than 
preaching. . . . With his heart deeply affected with 
the importance of the subject, what the effects of 
one of those whirlwinds of the soul ! . . . 

" Though boisterous and vehement in some 
peculiar moods, yet it is not mere violence. There 
is real pathos with his strength ; and though his 
hurried thoughts are sometimes like troops that 
have received marching; orders, and have to do all 
by forced marchings, they pass on with regularity, 
and are properly supported and attired. . . . The 
rapidity of his delivery is sometimes occasioned 
by intense feeling, but more generally by the 
astonishing flow of his ideas ; and although there 
is an occasional struggle for utterance that would 
lead a stranger to fear lest he should break the 
neck of his discourse over a word or thought, he is 
certain to come down from his heights, and to 
alight on his feet with the right thought, the 
proper expression, the entire sentence in the exact 
place and in regular succession. . . . Away the 
preacher dashes, like a steam-engine along the line, 
driving every thing out of sight that is likely to 
check its impetuous course. . . . 

" His intellectual gifts, which, though great, are 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



6 9 



not in the highest sense gigantic, and which are 
rather robust than purely elegant or strictly meta- 
physical, naturally influence his oratory; and 
though he does not affect argument in debate so 
much as hard, knock-down blows, yet he is always 
effective. If possible, he is still more effective on 
the platform than in the pulpit. . . . 

" In debate he is prompt, noble, fearless, inde- 
pendent, and always on the liberal side of the house. 
Some of his more sententious remarks, on these 
occasions, are perfect gems, sparkling w r ith light ; 
ingots of gold, which might be hoarded up for their 
value. But he more frequently rolls with the thun- 
der, and flashes with the lightning ; especially when 
assailed under the influence of c the platform.' 

"Dr. Beaumont's power over a congregation is, 
without exception, beyond that of any other man 
in the Wesleyan body. His impassioned eloquence, 
and the profusion of intellectual wealth which he 
invariably exhibits in his sermons, draw immense 
crowds to the chapel where he officiates. 

"He was preaching at the opening of a new 
chapel at Londonderry, Ireland. His talents at- 
tracted the attention of one of the Irish bishops, 
who listened with the deepest attention to his 
discourse, and officiated as a collector on the oc- 
casion. 

" At the Wesleyan Conference in Manchester, in 
1841, Dr. Beaumont preached in Oldham-street 
Chapel one Sabbath morning. The chapel was 
crowded to excess, but the clock struck twelve 
before he seemed to rise above his feelings and 



70 The Wesleycui Demosthenes. 



obtain the proper mastery over his subject, which 
led him to say, 4 But I suppose I must conclude, 
as our time is nearly gone.' Instantly, one spon- 
taneous burst from the congregation, who had 
been hanging upon his lips in a way of which he 
had not been sensible, was heard— 4 Go on, go 
on ! ' It was like electricity ; and he responded, 
4 1 will go on, then, at your bidding.' He pro- 
ceeded with unusual freedom till one o'clock, ex- 
patiating on, 4 Lord, revive thy work,' the 
countenances of the people meanwhile beaming 
with delight. It was, indeed, an extraordinary 
scene, and a season of power." 

When opening a beautiful chapel at Grove-place, 
in Jersey, he preached two edifying sermons ; that 
in the forenoon was from I Tim. ii, 8, 44 1 will, 
therefore, that men pray every-where, lifting up 
holy hands, without wrath and doubting." The 
theme was public prayer. In his usual impressive 
manner he explained and enforced its duties. He 
finally adverted to the posture in use among the 
early Christians of 44 lifting up holy hands," and 
after lengthily expounding why, after six days' 
defilement with meddling with things of the world, 
the hands should be washed before they could be 
clean or 44 holy," he rebukingly spoke of the very 
unseemly posture of modern Christians in sitting 
during the offering of public prayer. He also re- 
minded his hearers, in a tone of touching beauty, 
of the custom (as related by the historians of the 
Church) of all the people joining in the rehearsal 
of public devotion, and the peculiar euphony of 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 71 



the united exclamation of a vast congregation 
while repeating the Amen, which fell on the eai 
like the sound of "many waters." 

It would be scarce possible or prudent to hazard 
a circumstantial account of the evening sermon, 
or, indeed, of any of his sermons. The extraordi- 
nary flow of language, the multiform and varied 
imagery, the heights and depths, the lengths and 
breadths, of fervid thought, the mellifluous ca- 
dences, the impassioned gesture, the challenging 
tone, and, above all, the earnestness manifested 
in the delivery, will invariably remain imprinted 
on the memory. 

Rev. James Caughey, the eminent revivalist, 
was w r elcomed in England by Dr. Beaumont, and 
they fought side by side the battles of the Lord. 
Mr. Caughey thus speaks of the Doctor: "My ac- 
quaintance with Dr. Beaumont commenced in Liv- 
erpool, October, 1843, when during four or five 
months we had thirteen hundred sinners converted 
and four hundred believers purified. He is a noble 
man and an eloquent preacher. I heard him deliv- 
er in Hull a rich and beautiful discourse — ' apples 
of gold in pictures of silver,' masses of sterling 
thoughts like ingots of gold, yet simple and easy of 
comprehension, full of beauty and power. 

1 His words bore sterling weight, nervous and strong; 
In manly tides of sense they rolled along.' 

He is exceedingly happy in his choice of words, 
which come like nimble servants at his bidding. 
His power of iteration, or reiteration, struck us as 
singular — piling sentence upon sentence, expression 



72 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes, 



upon expression, word upon word, syllable upon 
syllable, epithet upon epithet, and all to glorify 
some noun or other, and that noun illustrative of 
something higher and nobler. There is something 
in it like comparative tautology, it is true. There 
is the same meaning expressed in different words 
— therefore hazardous to a speaker. Not so with 
Dr. Beaumont. To the hearer there is no need- 
less repetition y he would not have a single w r ord 
absent ; wishes him to go on piling ! for he feels 
the main thought — the thought — sinking deeper 
and deeper into his heart. It is like the repeated 
strokes of a hammer upon the same nail. 

u What one said of a famous orator and states- 
man is truly applicable to Dr. Beaumont, for he 
does possess that masculine vigor and full grown 
robustness of mind with an equally diffused intellect- 
ual wealth. In private intercourse you can see 
nothing of the great man, but the social, unas- 
suming Christian friend, happy himself, and making 
every body easy and happy around him."* 

" Dr. Beaumont was one of the most eminent 
preachers in the Methodist Church in England. 
His preaching was characterized by brilliancy of 
illustration, by repeated bursts of impassioned 
eloquence, and an earnestness of manner and de- 
livery often amounting to impetuosity. For many 
years he was one of the most popular pulpit and 
platform speakers in Great Britain." f 

* Oaughey-s " Earnest Christianity." 

f M/Clintock and Strong's " Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theologi- 
cal, and Ecclesiastical Literature." 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



73 



The Rev. John Bowers, himself an eloquent 
preacher and no mean judge of oratory, gives in 
his testimony. Beaumont and he were received into 
Conference at the same time ; at one time they were 
colleagues, and they were life-time friends. 

Mr. Bowers, after speaking of the " noble nature 
and transcendent talents " of Dr. Beaumont, says : 
u His habits were very studious, and his prepara- 
tions for the pulpit were made with great care. 
His sermons were often written at full length, 
and were delivered with energy and unction. 
With respect to the ability, the earnestness, the 
fidelity and brilliancy of his ministry, others will 
testify who are more competent to do it justice than 
I can pretend to be, for it requires the hand of 
an Apolles to paint an Achilles. Can I ever for- 
get that countenance, that beamed with benev- 
olence and brightened with intelligence, or that 
voice, whose every word was music to my heart? 
I admired and loved Dr. Beaumont while living; 
his name is to me as ointment poured forth, and his 
memory c is a joy forever.' His equal I never knew, 
and never expect to know, till mortality is swal- 
lowed up oflife." 

Mr. Bowers then speaks of a sermon he heard 
Dr. Beaumont preach in the presence of thousands 
who thronged Exeter Hall August 31, 1851. He 
says, " I can never forget the beautiful and eloquent 
strains in which he expatiated on the works of 
Gocl in connection with the works of man then in 
course of exhibition in the Crystal Palace, from the 
words of the Psalmist, " For thou, Lord, hast 



74 The Wesley a?i Demosthenes. 



made me glad through thy work. I will triumph 
in the works of thy hands." It was an outburst 
of pent-up fires, a glorious emanation of light and 
life. I have heard great and good men, and 
marked their distinctive excellences, but I never 
knew the elements and evidences of emotional, 
rhetorical, and spiritual superiority so clustered 
and comprehended as in him. His name is en- 
shrined in unnumbered hearts, and is graven on 
eternal tablets." 

It will be a source of pleasure to the reader to 
know that the sermon so splendidly eulogized by 
Rev. Mr. Bowers is in the volume before him. It 
abounds with brilliant passages. The introduction 
is surpassingly beautiful. From the very com- 
mencement the orator moves upward like the sun, 
climbing toward its meridian. He begins thus : 

" In these soul-breathing productions of the man 
alter God's own heart, what a richness, fullness, 
powerfulness we find ! So much so that the 
sweet singer of Israel shall be singer for us ; and 
when we want apt words for apt places, choice 
sentences for choice sentiments, we will cull 
them from this inimitable legend, the Psalter of 
David." 

There was a period when Robert Newton and 
Joseph Beaumont were the most popular ministers 
in the Wesleyan Connection, each preaching to 
crowds, and each receiving the laudations of the 
multitudes. They were alike, however, in nothing 
save the magnetic power of their eloquence: 
their styles differed greatly. The reader will find 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 75 



the contrast here drawn between them, " which 
we regard as ably done." 

"For many years Dr. Newton and Dr. Beau- 
mont were the pulpit celebrities of the Wesley an 
Church. True, there were also other popular 
preachers ; but these two, like Cicero and Demos- 
thenes, were confessedly the master-spirits. As 
we occasionally heard both at a period of life 
when we were enthusiastic admirers of pulpit 
talent, in fact, hero-worshipers, the following 
parallel will exhibit their points of similarity and 
dissimilarity, as they did and do still appear to us. 
Newton was graceful, Beaumont was powerful ; 
Newton charmed, Beaumont thrilled. Newton 
affected your feelings by his strokes of tenderness; 
Beaumont electrified you by his powerful genius. 
Newton was a perfect orator, attracting and de- 
lighting all classes by his gracefulness, naturalness, 
and majesty ; Beaumont had blemishes which at 
once attracted attention, yet, strange as it may 
seem, the impediment added a wonderful variation 
to his tone, and even heightened the interest of 
the whole. Newton's style was easy, flowing, 
logical, and homely, with occasional touches of 
pathos and sublimity ; Beaumont's was copious, 
polished, affluent, buoyant, unexpected, and brill- 
iant. Newton was seen, Beaumont was felt. 
Newton might recall Cicero, who never entirely 
lost sight of himself; Beaumont reminded you of 
Demosthenes, in his occasional vehemence and 
perfect abandonment to his theme. Newton was 
the great orator, taking the term to include all 



y6 The Wesleyan Demosthenes, 



essential excellences, exclusive of defects ; but, if 
we take persuasion as the prime notion of eloquence, 
Beaumont, without doubt, had greatly the superi- 
ority. Newton had the advantage in person — he 
had limbs like a gladiator, a shining eye, apostolic 
head, swan-like grace of gesture, and a voice like 
the fine tones of an organ ; Beaumont had the su- 
periority in scholastic culture, susceptible temper- 
ament, and in the gift of genius, which in its nature 
dwarfs the most towering talents. Newton enticed 
us onward by his bewitching oratory; Beaumont 
hurried us along with a vehement impetuosity. 
Newton gently touched the springs of feeling ; 
Beaumont made them gush like so many fountains. 
Newton occasionally w armed and became energetic, 
but never, properly speaking, impassioned — never 
rode upon the whirlwind ; Beaumont often did, 
causing thunder, lightning, and rain. But we can- 
not, no man can, describe it, for, as Robert Hall 
has said, c You cannot paint eloquence.'' " * 

The following description of the preaching of 
Dr. Beaumont is from the Glasgow Examiner : 

"St. Thomas's Church, Gallowgate, Gla gow, has 
recently been taken by the Wesleyans, and opened 
by Dr. Beaumont. The discourse, from 1 Tim. 
iv, 6-10, for richness and variety of illustration 
was one of great excellence. The preacher never 
seemed at a loss for a comparison or a simile. Now 
one was culled from the sacred pages, again one 
was taken from natural history, then from science 

* " A Biographical and Critical Sketch of Dr. Beaumont, the 
Eloquent Orator/' By the Rev. Richard Wrench, London. 



The Wtslcyan Demosthenes. 



77 



and from the arts ; the morning and the evening, 
the Alps and the Himalayas, the level plains, the 
jungle and the prairies, sacred and profane biogra- 
phy, all furnished material with a readiness and 
profusion which has scarcely any parallel in Scot- 
tish preaching ; indeed, they came, as it were, 
crowding upon him, so that the hearer felt that 
the one expressed was the first that had come to 
hand from a hundred similar ones the preacher had 
at his command. His language, also, was equally 
profuse. It seemed to flow spontaneously, leaving 
not the slightest impression that it had been pre- 
viously selected and arranged in its present form. 
This ease and fluency are a characteristic of 
English preaching, and is very marked in this 
preacher. However, though this is certainly very 
pleasing at the moment, it has the tendency to de- 
tract from the definiteness of an exposition. The 
form is lost in the richness of the coloring, and the 
eye is dazzled more than the mind is enlightened. 
We are, however, not saying this in disparagement 
of this preacher. He is an excellent and substantial 
preacher, possessing a masculine mind, thoroughly 
conversant with the Scriptures, and stored with 
a large amount of knowledge of a miscellaneous 
description. He also possesses a warm tempera- 
ment, and displays great earnestness and fervor in 
all the exercises, both devotional and didactic. 
There is with him no formal utterance, but he en- 
ters into the work with heart and. spirit, as one 
who knows from experience the joys and consola- 
tions that true religion affords, and who is anxious 



78 



The Wesley cm Demosthenes. 



that others should share them also. Either in 
things sacred or civil, we could not think of such a 
man allying himself with the selfish or tyrannical. 
His fame as a preacher does not lie in graceful- 
ness of gesture or speech, but in the quality of his 
matter and the earnestness of his appeals. His 
voice is strong, and varies from deep, grave tones 
to a high pitch, shrill and rapid ; and occasionally, 
when he wishes to lay peculiar emphasis upon a 
word, he sounds it out to a great length. His brow 
is of capacious dimensions, and is but partially con- 
cealed with thin locks of a light yellow 7 hue. He is 
undoubtedly a minister of whom any denomination 
of Christians might be proud, and whom all should 
respect as well for his becoming walk and conver- 
sation as for the extent of his attainments and the 
zeal with which he prosecutes his mission." 

The following brief portraiture of Dr. Beaumont 
is by one who knew him well. He says he can 
only draw 7 upon himself in endeavoring to bring out 
the living, breathing portrait of him who, though 
" being dead, yet speaketh," a portrait which has 
been hung in the chambers of the mind for a series 
of years. 

" Dr. Beaumont's style was peculiarly his own. 
It was very different from the highly gifted and 
apostolic Chalmers, or the eloquent Edward Ir- 
ving. He clothed his discourses in rare, appro- 
priate, and beautiful words. He enlightened his 
audiences by the justness of his sentiments, while 
they were pleased with the brilliancy of his imag- 
ination and the copiousness of his language. 



The Weslcyan Demosthenes. 



79 



" His sermons were distinguished not only for 
their fine evangelical tone, but for an affluence of 
diction, a splendor of coloring, and a beauty of 
imagery, combined with a gush of rich, hallowed 
feeling peculiar to himself. 

" With him, dissemination of truth from the pul- 
pit was a kind of enthusiasm. He was endowed with 
genius. His amazing power in the pictorial ena- 
bled him to throw off a subject, in a mental vision, 
with all the power and coloring with which a 
first-rate artist might present one to the bodily 
sight. As a powerful and varied painter in words 
he stood pre-eminent in the Wesleyan body. 

" A Milton, a Cromwell, a Hampden would have 
envied the brilliancy of imagination and the splen- 
dor of imagery which he displayed. We were 
now and then reminded of Jeremy Taylor, and 
anon he carried his hearers to the third heavens, 
then flinging out great masses of thought, and 
these delightfully relieved by bold and beautiful 
figures. Imagination was one of those faculties 
which was always present, whether discoursing in 
public or in private. The impression bore an af- 
finity very often to that of a traveler passing 
through a country in the midst of the verdure of 
spring, the flowers of summer and the fruit of 
autumn, distinguished for bold rock and beautiful 
scenery, in the course of which the hearers were 
not in the first instance so much impressed with 
the whole as with detached parts, when finally the 
entire scene revolved in the mind and passed before 
it like a panoramic exhibition. It was this delight- 



8o The Wesleyan Demosthenes, 



fill variety which fascinated the heart and fixed the 
eye upon the preacher. His descriptive powers 
were beyond most of his pulpit contemporaries. 

"The leading characteristic of his ministry was 
power. He threw his whole soul into the work. 
There was real pathos, and his hurried thoughts 
were sometimes like troops that had received 
marching orders, and had to do all by forced 
marches. His eloquence was fervent, rapid, and 
copious, carrying along with it the minds and 
hearts of his audiences." * 

His brethren of the Wesleyan Conference, of 
which Dr. Beaumont was so long an honored mem- 
ber, speak of him in the Minutes of 1855 as "elo- 
quent and popular," characterized by general fe- 
licity and frequent brilliancy of illustration, by 
repeated bursts of impassioned eloquence, and an 
earnest manner of delivery, often amounting to 
impetuosity, which produced a vivid impression on 
the audiences. It is not surprising, therefore, that 
his services were in request as an occasional 
preacher and an advocate of various benevolent 
institutions, and to these purposes they were 
cheerfully devoted, without regard to personal 
convenience, and in a catholic spirit. In all this 
class of labors he was truly more abundant ; and 
his ministry on those occasions, as well as in its 
ordinary exercise, a blessing to many." 

He was stationed in Hull in 1854, in accordance 
with the expressed wish of the people. His health 
was enfeebled, and yet he was in labors more abun- 
*Frora a funeral sermon by Rev. James Everett. 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



81 



dant. He grew old gracefully, and became more 
mellow as the autumn of life approached. He 
retained his popularity to the last, preaching with 
pathos, power, and success. The last fourteen 
days of his life he preached fourteen times. 

On the last day (Sunday) of 1854 he preached 
in the morning from the words, " Few and evil 
have the days of the years of my life been at 
the watch-night from "The harvest is past, the sum- 
mer is ended, and we are not saved." Again he 
preached from, " Redeeming the time." 

Dr. Beaumont said to a friend a few days before 
he died, " To die in the pulpit is the most glorious 
death a preacher can have, and no man can desire 
anything happier." He could hardly have sup- 
posed when he said this that such a death awaited 
him ; and yet it was not long before this desire 
was literally realized. 

His last sermon was preached on Friday, at 
Newland, a short distance from Hull. Sunday 
morning, January 21, 1855, he went to the house 
of the Lord prepared to preach from the seven 
first verses of the seventy-eighth Psalm. The 
morning w r as cold, the streets were slippery ; he 
walked, with the support of one of his daughters, 
to Waltham-street Chapel. He entered the pulpit 
and began the service with much solemnity. The 
first hymn he selected commences thus :— 

" Eternal Power, whose high abode 
Becomes the grandeur of a God — 
Infinite lengths, beyond the bounds 
Where stars revolve their little rounds : 
6 



82 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



Re did not read the first verse, but gave out the 
first two lines of the second : — 

" Thee while the first archangel sings, 
He hides his face behind his wings." 

He read with amazing pathos. 

The audience sang these lines, and were expect- 
ing him to read the others ; he looked partially 
around, and then fell ; " he was not, for God took 
him." Suddenly he went from the sanctuary on 
earth to the sanctuary in heaven — 

" His body with his charge laid down, 
And ceased at once to work and live." 

It was like a translation, as Enoch's or Elijah's. 
His sudden death produced a wonderful consterna- 
tion. His family were shocked ; it was so with the 
congregation, with the community, with the coun- 
try. Multitudes attended his funeral, and a very 
impressive sermon was preached by Dr. James 
Dixon, his intimate friend, from the following ap- 
propriate text: "An eloquent man and mighty in 
the Scriptures." 

Devout men made great lamentation over him, 
and buried him in the Hull Cemetery, where he 
will rest until the multitude of sleepers shall start 
at the sound of the trumpet and rise to life im- 
mortal. 

"See truth, love, and mercy, in triumph descending, 
And nature all glowing with Eden's first bloom ; 

On the cold cheek of death smiles and roses are blending, 
And beauty immortal awakes from the tomb." 



SERMONS 

OP 

KEY. JOSEPH BEAUMONT, M. D. 



SERMONS. 



I. 

THE MORE EXCELLENT SACRIFICE. 

And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and 
of the fat thereof, And the Lord had respect unto Abel and 
to his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had not 
respect. — Gen. iv, 4, 5. 

By faith Abel offered unto G-od a more excellent sacrifice 
than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was right- 
eous, God testifying of his gifts : and by it he being dead yet 
speaketh. — Heb. xi, 4. 

Righteous Abel. — Matt, xxiii, 35. 

W? love to look back into the dim, misty past — 
to the root, origin, beginning, of things. When 
we see a majestic river bearing a nation's commerce 
on its bosom, we love to trace it up to its source ; 
to go to the foot of the mountain where the dew- 
drops fall, and a thousand tiny rills mingle and 
swell, where it is fed by tributary streams, and then 
trace it onward, deepening and widening as it rolls 
its mighty volume on and on, forming the high 
road to the ocean : — 

When we see a magnificent palace bearing the 
impress of age, with its ivy-covered walls, its lofty 
turrets, its broken columns, though i£ may now 



86 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



be a den for wild beasts and a hold for owls and 
satyrs — still a temple in ruins, bearing indications 
of its former grandeur, marks of the splendor of 
its palmy days — we love to learn its origin, to go 
back to the laying of its foundation, to gather up 
the circumstances that gave it birth : — 

When we survey an empire like Great Britain, 
with its hundred and fifty millions of population, 
its laws, its wealth, its institutions, its liberties, its 
commerce, its churches, its flag floating in every 
sea, with a dominion on which the sun never sets, 
sitting queen of the nations — 

" Fairest flower of the isles, 
And first gem of the sea" — 

when we survey an empire like this, we love to 
take the light of history and go back to the few 
huts that formed its nucleus — to see the giant men 
that formed its constitution : — and when we view 
a system like Christianity, that has redeemed us 
from savage barbarism, snatched millions of im- 
mortal minds from hell, constituted them into 
God's aristocracy and nobility, and with them 
peopled the very solitudes of heaven, surely we 
love to mark the rise of this mighty river — to 
examine the foundation stone of this magnificent 
structure — to listen to the little band that form 
the nucleus of this boundless empire ! Well, this 
holy Book takes us back to the first mast and 
woman, the center, origin, root, of all the countless 
myriads that now people heaven, earth, and hell — 
To the FflRST sin, that is still running like cur- 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 87 



rents of fire through all the ramifications of human- 
ity — the first sin, that has made the earth heave, 
surge, groan, and travail together in pain, robbed 
heaven of some of its brightest ornaments, built 
the great State prison of hell, kindled its fires, and 
awakened groans that end not — To the first 
promise that came swelling out of the bosom of 
God — To the first saved sixxer — If you ask 
me his name, my reply is, Righteous Abel — 
Righteous Abel. 

Abel was the second sou of the first pair. The 
first Adam gave him the name of Abel — vanity, or 
a vanishing vapor — perhaps to teach us that on 
every thing this side of the throne of God — on 
man's highest earthly good — is written, Vanity ! 
vanity ! The second Adam made an addition to 
his name — Righteous Abel — Justified Abel: 
that's better than his old name — Vanity. There's 
something lasting, substantial, in this new name ; 
something that shall live forever. 

In bringing before you the character of Abel 
our attention is required to the following consider- 
ations : — 

I. He was the first of whom it was affirmed that 
he was justified by faith. 

II. He was the first of whom it was stated that 
he offered an acceptable sacrifice to God. 

III. He was the first personal type of Christ. 

IV. He was the first martyr for the truth. 

V. He was the first whose redeemed spirit en- 
tered heaven. 

I, He was the first of whom it was affirmed that 



88 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



he was justified by faith. Perhaps your minds will 
turn at once, with intense interest, to Adam and 
Eve. Were they lost ? We do not know. The 
Bible is silent about them. Paul draws up a chron- 
ological list, and goes back along the stream of 
time from generation to generation till he conies to 
Abel, and there he stops. By the sin of the first 
pair the sluices of death were lifted up, and the 
world deluged with woe and ruin. They were the 
first to introduce sin into the world ; on this ac- 
count, probably, God has drawn over their destiny 
the mantle of night. I hope they w^ere saved ; 
they were the first who heard the Gospel, we trust 
they embraced it, but the silence of death is on 
their doom. But of Abel it is affirmed that he was 
justified by faith. Then the devil didn't have the 
first ; then before the howl was heard in hell, the 
shout of victory was heard in heaven. 

On the same day that man sinned, redemption was 
introduced; for we are told that in the cool of the 
day the Lord God walked in the garden, and said, 
the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's 
head. The sun, then, never set upon man after his 
fall till God's new method of mercy was proclaimed 
to him. 

Justified by Faith. How can man be saved ? 
or, How can a sinner be justified before God? are 
questions all important. Men have proposed five 
ways for saving men's souls : — 

1 . By the law of works ; or the moral of obedience. 

2. By works of supererogation, including volun- 
tary sufferings, rigid discipline, austerities, uncom- 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



8 9 



manded mortifications, patient endurance of the 
miseries attendant upon human life. 

3. Penal sufferings, such as purgatorial fires. 

4. Transmigration of souls. 

5. By the mere benevolence of God. 

All these are miserable subterfuges, lying ref- 
uges. But from the beginning God has proclaimed 
one way — salvation by faith. Here are two men 
— two representative men — that stand at the head 
of two great classes — Deists, and believers in the 
atonement of Christ : those who regard God as a 
great moral governor, and depend upon their own 
merit for acceptance, and those who look for sal- 
vation through the blood of Christ. Abel looked 
at the struggling lamb before him as a picture of 
something to come — a type of another scene — the 
crucifixion. His faith looked through the mist of 
four thousand years at God's Lamb. He leaned 
on him, trusted in him, embraced him, and was 
saved. Sight can reach a long way, up to some of 
those globes of light untold millions of miles dis- 
tant. Reason can go beyond sight. If premises 
are laid down, it can arrive at deductions and con- 
clusions. But, O ! what a mighty principle faith is ! 
It can pass beyond sight and reason ; it can pierce 
the vail that hangs between time and eternity ; it 
can bring into one burning focus earth, heaven, and 
hell — the past, the present, and the future ! Abel 
looked four thousand years ahead and saw a cross — ■ 
a cross ! a great, burning cross, and clung to it and 
lived. Abel was the first, but, thank God ! he was 
not the last. Abraham, David, Paul, the Wesleys, 



90 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



and thousands more, have successively been great 
teachers of this wonder-working faith. Abel stands 
at the head of countless multitudes who have em- 
braced the faith. Since the days of Abel, perhaps, 
there has not elapsed an hour of time but some poor 
sinner, somewhere or another, has found his way 
to the cross. There has been a glorious succession 
of justified persons. Around this doctrine of jus- 
tification by faith stand millions of witnesses ; wit- 
nesses that the way to God is by the way of the cross. 

If I am addressing any who are seeking salva- 
tion by works, let me say, You have a hard task. 
Can you make an atonement ? Can you repair the 
breach? Can you provide salvation? You are 
not called upon to make an atonement, but to 
believe in one ; not to provide salvation, but to 
receive it — " all things are ready." Faith, simple 
faith, is the condition. And what is faith ? Why, 
just the echo of God's voice : an echo does not add 
anything to the voice — it repeats back the words 
again. Faith does not add any thing to the truth, 
it repeats it. God says to us, u The blood of Jesus 
Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Faith 
says back again to God, "The blood of Jesus 
Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Say, 
then, with the poet, 

" He ever lives above, 

For me to intercede, 
His all-redeeming love, 

His precious blood, to plead. 
His blood atoned for all our race, 
And sprinkles now the throne of grace." 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 91 



Say again — 

" 'Tis done ; thou dost this moment save — 
With full salvation bless; 
Redemption through thy blood I have, 
And spotless love and peace." 

Can you make a stone roll up the hill ? Can 
you make a stream roll up the mountain's side ? 
Can you roll back the tide of the ocean ? As soon 
can you do this as secure salvation, get salvation, 
by works. 

II. Abel was the first of whom it was stated that 
he offered an acceptable sacrifice to God. Some 
are of opinion that sacrifices bad their origin in the 
customs of heathen nations, and others believe that 
sacrifices are of divine appointment. The latter 
opinion has our approval, because at a very early 
period we find that the skins of animals were used 
as clothing. As animal food was not then eaten, 
we conclude that these skins were from animals 
that had been offered in sacrifice. And then the 
whole tenor of revelation represents sacrifices as 
pleasing to God. We can only account for sac- 
rifices at this early period of the world's history 
on the ground that they were of divine appoint- 
ment. Abel, however, was the first of whom it was 
stated, he offered an acceptable sacrifice to God. 
Come, then, and see these two altars. 

Cain brought of the fruits of the ground, and 
Abel of the firstlings of his flock ; and God had 
respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain 
and his offering he had not respect. 



9 2 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



To Abel's offering he testified his approval. In 
what manner he bore his testimony is not stated. 
Some suppose that a voice was heard; others, 
that a bright light hovered over the spot ; but 
others entertain on opinion that fire from heaven 
came down and consumed the sacrifice. This lat- 
ter opinion is probably the correct one, as it har- 
monizes with the method by which God testified 
his approval in later times. See, then, this pious 
young man standing by the altar presenting his 
sacrifice. " O God ! who made us, and who breathed 
the breath of life into our nostrils : who hath 
blessed us, and spared us despite our sin, thy jus- 
tice is tempered with mercy ! Sole Lord of light, 
of good, glory, and eternity, accept from thy first 
of shepherds the first born of the flock ; in itself 
nothing, but still a type of the one great sacri- 
fice to come. Thou canst, thou wilt, thou dost 
accept ; the fire from heaven kindles, the flame 
ascends, God testifies of his gift." 

And if Cain brought strange fire to consume his 
offering, who shall say but the fire of heaven scat- 
tered the sacrifice and scorched the unhallowed 
offerer, as he fled from the presence of the Lord ? 

A question of considerable importance here arises. 
Why did God accept the one and reject the other ? 
We reply, 

1. The men differed in character, God had re- 
spect unto Abel, as well as to his offering ; but 
unto Cain and his offering he had not respect. Not 
that there was any dark interdict in the book 
against Cain ; not that Abel was a favorite, irre- 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 93 



spective of his conduct — for God is no respecter of 
persons — but one was doing the will of God, and 
the other following the dictates of his own will. 
In our approaches to God there must be a sincere 
desire to serve him. These men differed in their 
characters. Here was, at an early date, the publi- 
can and the Pharisee. 

2. They differed in the mode of their approach 
to God. They both built altars, both presented a 
sacrifice; bnt one came in the constitutional, the 
heaven-appointed, way — the way by sacrifice. Cain 
brought of the fruit of the ground; he recognized 
God as the author or governor of the world, but 
seemed to exclude the atonement. Abel came 
by the way of the cross, through the blood of 
Jesus. 

3. They differed in the principles from ivhich 
they acted. It is expressly said of Abel, that by 
faith he offered a more acceptable sacrifice. Abel's 
faith, we apprehend, had a special reference to the 
atonement of Christ. His lamb was but a picture 
of God's Lamb. There is no way to God but by 
Christ. Now Cain seemed to lack this one item : 
he lacked penitence of soul, and faith in Christ's 
atonement. Cain must have believed in the exist- 
ence of God or he would have offered no sacrifice. 
He must have believed in the government and provi- 
dence of God, as he, by his sacrifice, recognized his 
dependence upon him ; but it does not appear that 
he had any faith in the new method — in the way 
by sacrifice — the blood and atonement of Christ. 
Abel was the first, but not the last — sacrifices in 



94 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



millions followed. And what were these sacrifices 
intended to teach ? Why, they were as so many 
millions of finger-posts pointing the world on to 
the Comer — the One Sacrifice — the Sacrifice offered 
on the cross. They terminated here. The cruci- 
fixion of Christ was on the Jewish great day of 
atonement. About three o'clock the Saviour died ; 
that would be about the time the Jewish high- 
priest was offering up the evening sacrifice in the 
holy of holies. Just then the vail of the tem- 
ple was rent from the top to the bottom. The 
voice seemed to say to the priest, " Go ! thy work 
is done ! — the Great Sacrifice is on the altar of 
Calvary once for all ! " Henceforth the fire on the 
altars went out, and sacrifices ceased. Though 
the Great Sacrifice has been offered up once for all, 
the doctrine of sacrifices still continues. And now 
we are not required to bring our sacrifices. We 
have a Sacrifice and an altar, and to that altar 
we bring ourselves, our talents, our wealth, our 
good deeds, and our bad deeds — the one to be ac- 
cepted, the other to be pardoned ; for our very 
tears need washing — our well-meant efforts can 
only be accepted as they are offered in the name 
of Jesus. But what is a sacrifice ? It is giving 
up something that will put us to some incon- 
venience. 

Christ gave up his life — his soul. Shall we not, 
then, be willing to give, not only out of our abun- 
dance, but give a sacrifice toward accomplishing 
the end for which he died ? 

III. Abel was the first personal type of Christ. 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 95 



God has laid the universe under contribution 
to bring out the Saviour to the view of sinners 
— sacred things^ sacred places ^ and sacred per- 
sons. When you look at the bread on your 
tables, you are reminded of Him who is the Bread 
of Life — on the Lamb that sports and gambols in 
the field. Your mind turns to God's Lamb — the 
Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. In 
the early dawn, when the morning star gleams on 
your path, your attention is turned to Him who is 
the Bright and Morning Star. When the sun rises 
up in the heavens, scattering the gloom of night, 
you think of Him who is the Sun of Righteousness, 
who shall rise over the nations of the earth with 
healing in his wings. In the list of personal types 
you have Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, 
David, Solomon. But Abel was the first. You 
cannot think of Abel's devoted life, his persecution, 
his tragical death,without turning to similar scenes 
in the Saviour's life, his temptations in the wilder- 
ness, his tragic death on Calvary. We are not 
called upon now to be types ; but we are called 
upon to be epistles — representatives. Let us see 
that our epistles be not bleared and blotted, and 
that our lives and tongues bear a faithful testimony 
to Him. 

IV. Abel was the first martyr for the truth. 
He stands at the head of an illustrious, and all 
but countless, multitude. He died a martyr for 
the truth. 

The hatred of Cain w T as aroused because his own 
offering was rejected and his brother's accepted. 



9 6 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



Abel was a martyr, then, for the doctrine of justi- 
fication by faith. He was a martyr for the truth ; 
he was the first that entered into rest through 
the rugged portals of martyrdom. You need 
not pity the martyr — the martyr's crown will 
compensate for the martyr's death. Since Abel, 
how has the number swelled ! What forms of 
torture and death have they not endured ! In 
the list is found — Perished in loathsome, noisome 
dungeons ; devoured by wild beasts ; tortured in 
the skins of animals ; sawn asunder ; broken on the 
wheel; torn limb from limb ; burned at the stake — " 
yes, millions have gone up in the flame-shroud to 
their rest ! To banish, imprison, hang, starve, and 
burn men for religion is not the Gospel of Christ ; 
it is the gospel of the devil. Where persecution 
begins Christianity ends. We know the origin 
of it — it is from the devil ; he began the practice 
in the first family on earth ; Abel was the first 
victim. Since then the persecuting spirit has never 
slumbered. But, if time had permitted, we would 
have referred you more fully to the ten fierce perse- 
cutions. The first was under the Emperor Nero, 
thirty-one years after our Lord's ascension. Multi- 
tudes were apprehended ; they were covered by the 
skins of wild beasts, torn to pieces by devouring 
dogs, fastened to crosses, wrapped up in combus- 
tible garments that, when the daylight failed, they 
might, like torches, serve to dispel the gloom of 
night. For this tragical scene Nero lent his own 
gardens ; and thus the shrieks of women burning 
to ashes supplied music and diversion for their 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 97 



circus. The second was under Domitian, in the 
year 95, and forty thousand are supposed to have 
perished. The third began in the third year of 
Trojan, in the year 100. The fourth was under 
Antoninus. The fifth began in the year 127, under 
Servitus, when great cruelties were committed. 
The sixth began in the reign of Maximus, in 235-7. 
The seventh, which was the most dreadful ever 
known, began in 250, under the Emperor Decius. 
The eighth began in 257, under Valerian. The 
ninth was under Aurelian, in 274. The tenth be- 
gan in the nineteenth year of Dioclesian, in 303. 
In this dreadful persecution, which lasted ten 
years, houses filled with Christians were set on 
lire, and whole droves twisted together with ropes 
and cast into the sea. It is related that seventeen 
thousand were slain in one month. In this fiery 
persecution it is believed that not less than one 
hundred and forty- four thousand Christians died 
by violence, besides seven hundred thousand that 
died through the banishments or the public 
works to which they were condemned ; and since 
then, the number of Christians martyred by those 
bearing the same name is all but countless. It 
has been said chat not less than fifty millions of 
Protestants, at different times, have been put to 
death by Papists. What an army ! What seas 
of blood have been shed ! If their bodies were 
piled in one heap, they would be bigger than 
any mountain in this world. And now they are 
seen occupying a distinguished position in the 
Church above. The Apocalyptic angel turned 
7 



98 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



John's attention to this mighty army. " What 
are these?" said he. "These are they which 
came out of great tribulation, and have washed 
their robes, and made them white in the blood of 
the Lamb." Then the martyr owes his crown to 
the blood of the Lamb. Then 

"Crown him, ye martyrs of our God, 
Who from his altar call; 
Bring forth the Stem of Jesse's Rod, 
And crown him Lord of all." 

Let us thank God for the times in which we live. 
Let us join the army of martyrs to crown him— 
crown him — -crown him Lord of all. 

V. We come, lastly, to observe that — Abel 

WAS THE FIRST WHOSE REDEEMED SPIRIT EN- 
TERED heaven. We have asked you to stand 
by his altar ; now come and stand by his tomb. 
His life w T as short, his death was early, his 
struggle was fierce ; but liberty, victory, came 
at last. He takes a last pensive view of all 
that's dear to him on earth. He enters the 
chariot — he ascends — the new inhabitant of heav- 
en ascends — beauteous — beauteous as the set- 
ting stars that fade away into the light of dawn- 
ing day. Hail him, ye chiming spheres ! Hail 
him ! — hail him, ye globes of light ! Hail him, 
ye morning stars ! He ascends ; myriads of angels 
await him. He ascends; the New Jerusalem 
comes into view — 

"Heaven opens on his eyes; his ears 
With sounds seraphic ring." 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



99 



He wants to speed his way. Hear him — 

"Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly I 
grave, where is thy victory? 
death, where is thy sting?" 

He passes in triumph the crystal portals. What 
must the effect have been upon himself as he looks 
back over life's rough voyage ? — the stormy Jor- 
dan — the fierce conflicts— the victory. He looks 
around on the almost terrifying glories, on the 
hierarchies of heaven, as they rise rank above 
rank. The weary traveler had reached home. 
The soldier had put off the corslet and the helmet. 
The prodigal had crossed the threshold of his 
father's mansion. He had reached the goal of Ins 
highest ambition : he was in heaven, and eternal 
sunshine w r as settling on his brow. He looked 
down the vista of eternity, and a glorious future 
was before him. The scene must have been al- 
most overwhelming. But there he was, a lonely 
spirit. None around him could sympathize with 
him: none had suffered, none had wept, none had 
bled, none had died. There he was, a stranger 
from a strange world. There! — there he is! 
that solitary redeemed spirit standing before the 
throne, pouring out his sweet but lonely song. 
The harps of heaven are all hushed — the songs all 
suspended. Seraphim and cherubim bend from 
their thrones, and all the hierarchies gather round 
him. Silence is in heaven. But, hark ! hark! the 
lonely voice swells on the breeze: — "Unto Him" 
(as he points to the throne of the Redeemer) " Unto 



100 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



Him that loved me, and washed me in his own 
blood, be riches, and strength, and wisdom, and 
blessing, and honor. Amen and amen." 

O, how these notes float, and swell, and echo, 
and reverberate through the world of light! It 
was the first song sung by a redeemed spirit. 
Halleluia ! 

2. What effect did it produce on the angels ? 
Here was a wonder in heaven — a sinner saved, 
one from another race. Here was a scene that 
brought out new and startling views of the Divine 
character; that developed new attributes in the 
Deity; that placed every person in the Godhead 
in a new light. There is joy in the presence of 
God over one sinner that repenteth. Here was a 
theme for angels to study. 

3. What must the Father have felt? There 
had been a fearful problem before the universe, 
" How can a sinner be saved ? " and it had been 
solved. God's great plan had come out, and it 
was the great work of God. 

"'Twas great to speak a world from naught! 
'Twas greater to redeem ! " 

Here was the first-fruits ; here was the first prodi- 
gal returning to Iris father. Did he not run to 
meet him ? did he not fall on his neck and kiss 
him, saying, u This my son was dead and is alive, 
was lost and is found?" Did he not — the Great 
Father — say to his angel-brethren, " Bring the best 
robe and put it on him, and come and make 
merry ? " 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. I o I 



4. What did the So?i feel? Here was the first 
gem in his crown ; the first fruit of his passion ; 
the first trophy of his cross. As the Saviour 
looked from the heights of his everlasting dwell- 
ing-place, he saw the human shrine he should 
wear, the stable of Bethlehem, the wilderness of 
temptation, the garden of agony, the hall of con- 
demnation, the Calvary of tragic death. But here 
was the joy that was set before him ; here was the 
first saved sinner, nestling by his side — shelter- 
ing in the cleft of the Rock. He was the first, but 
not the last. Many since then have gone up with- 
in the vail. Some of our friends are among the 
number ; and we have sometimes murmured, and 
been half ready to think that God has dealt hardly 
with us. A little boy once went out in the early 
morn, and was greatly delighted with the little 
globes formed by the dew on the brambles. He 
hastened back, and led his father out to see those 
miniature worlds ; but when the father and son 
arrived the sun was up, and had drawn up, in 
vapor, the globes that had hung on the bram- 
bles, and so displeased the child. He cried 5 and 
said, "The angry sun has taken them all up." 
The father looked up, and saw the beautiful rain- 
bow on the bosom of the cloud, and said, "There, 
my child, the sun has taken up the^bramble globes, 
and they help to form that beautiful bow on the 
cloud." Ah ! my friends, God has taken up some 
of our friends; and have we not murmured? But 
where are they ? Ah ! do they not form the beau- 
tiful bow round the throne of God? Well, they 



102 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



are constantly going up. They corne from the 
east, the west, the north, and the south. The 
gates are not shut at all by day, and there is no 
night there. The number is increasing. In the 
days of John no man could number them ; and 
since the days of John myriads upon myriads have 
passed up, and entered in. The multitude is still 
increasing ; the song is swelling into a louder 
chorus; and what shall it be when all shall be 
gathered home? O, how it sweetens heaven to 
remember that we have some there we love ! and 
even while we tabernacle here, we seem to hear 
their voices lingering still on our ears — we seem 
to feel their spirits hovering nigh us. They are 
engraven on the tablets of our memory; in the 
light of morn, and noon, and dewy eve, they linger 
still among us. In the beautiful words of the 
poet — 

"When the hours of day are numbered, 
And the voices of the night 
Wake the better soul that slumbered 
To a holy, calm delight; 
"Ere the ev'ning lamps are lighted, 
And, like phantoms grim and tall, 
Shadows from the fitful fire-light 
Dance upon the parlor wall — 
"Then the forms of the departed 
Enter at the open door; 
The beloved — the true-hearted — 
Come to visit us once more. 
"He — the young, the strong — who cherished 
Noble longings for the strife, 
By the roadside fell and perished, 
Weary with the march of life. 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 103 



a They — the holy ones and weakly — 
Who the cross of suffering bore, 
Folded their pale hands so meekly, 
Speak with us on earth once more. 

" And with them the beings beauteous, 
Who unto my youth was given 
More than all things else to love me, 
And is now a saint in heaven. 

" With a slow and noiseless footstep 
Comes that messenger divine, 
Takes the vacant chair beside me, 
Lays her gentle band in mine. 

"And she sits and gazes at me 

With those deep and tender eyes, 
Like the stars, so still and saint-like, 
Looking downward from the skies. 

" Uttered, not yet comprehended, 
Is the spirit's voiceless prayer- 
Soft rebukes, in blessings ended, 
Breathing from the lips of air. 

11 1 though oft depressed and lonely, 
All my fears are laid aside. 
If I but remember only 

Such as these have lived and died! " 

Many of our friends— those whose memory we love 
to cherish— have followed the martyrs up — fol- 
lowed the Great Master up — within the vail. And 
we are on our way up— up to our Father's house ; 
and, though the cold grave lies between us and the 
great multitude whose home is the everlasting 
dwelling-place of God, as we look down on the 
sands at the bottom of the grave we see the retir- 



104 The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



ing footprints of Jesus, for he has been there and 
sanctified it. Halleluia ! victory has been won 
over the realms of death ! Abel was the first 
ransomed spirit that should swell into numbers 
like the sand of ocean or the dews of morning. 
Christ saw here the travail of his soul, and was 
satisfied. 

5. What did the Holy Spirit feel? Here was 
his work. He had enlightened him, softened him, 
led him to Christ, sanctified him, sustained him 
through temptation, through martyrdom, and con- 
ducted him home to heaven. How did he exult 
over this new creation — a creation infinitely trans- 
cending the creation of the physical universe. 
Here was a creation that would last. The sun 
will not last, the moon will not last ; but the soul 
will last. Here was a pillar that should stand in 
the great upper house for ever. Here was a flower 
that would never wither, never facie ; a flower 
that would bloom in the regained paradise through 
the endless cycles of eternity. Here was a pol- 
luted spirit purified, a lost soul saved, an immortal 
nature rescued from hell and elevated to heaven. 
Here was the first song ; but there would be added 
to it another and another voice, increasing as time 
rolled on, till every one in heaven and on earth 
and in the waters under the earth should join the 
anthem — a song that should swell out into a uni- 
versal chorus. O ! with what delight did the 
blessed Spirit hail this new creation ! — brighter, 
higher, grander, more lasting than the creation of 
matter. 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



In conclusion, let me address myself to two 
several classes. Cain and Abel, though dead, they 
yet speak to us. Here are two men that stand at 
the head of, and represent, Deists and Christians, 
Pharisees and Publicans — those who seek salva- 
tion by works, and those who seek it by the cross 
of Christ. 

The first lesson taught us by these speaking 
dead is, that there is but one way to God— one 
method of saving man. As we look to the Cross 
we cry, Hehold the way of God! 
t The second lesson is, that ice may knoio, and 
that others may know, at the moment and on the 
spot, that God accepts our offering. 

The third lesson is, that justification by faith is 
a doctrine of tremendous importance to us ; and 
rather than lose it, we had better die a thousand 
martyr deaths. 



ii. 

DIVINE WORKMANSHIP. 

"For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work: I 
will triumph in the works of thy hands " — Psalm xcii, 4. 

In these soul-breathing productions of the man 
after God's own heart, what a richness, fullness, 
powerfulness we find ! So much so that the sweet 
singer of Israel shall be the singer for us ; and 
when we want apt words for apt places, choice 
sentences for choice sentiments, we will cull them 



106 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



from this inimitable legend — the Psalter of David. 
The whole of the Psalms, perhaps, may be said to 
be capable of being thrown into the three follow- 
ing general classes. There is a portion of them 
that contains the experience of the piety of the 
Psalmist; and, although given out for the service 
of the Jew under the law, yet it. is not a whit less 
adapted to the service of the Christian under the 
Gospel. The most finished Christian may find 
in the Psalms expressions to sustain his utmost 
flights of devotion, his profounclest sentiments of 
reverence, his highest soarings of faith, and his 
richest expansions of hope. There is another part 
of the Psalms which consists of what I take leave 
to call maxims or proverbs, analogous to the 
Proverbs of Solomon, containing " wise saws and 
instances," gems of moral, social, and political wis- 
dom, ingots of intellectual gold valuable for the 
conduct of the affairs of life. Then there is an- 
other part of the Psalms which consists of hymns, 
or odes, or songs, of a directly prophetical charac- 
ter, in which the harp of David is eloquent, and 
discourses beforehand in sweet and touching music 
on the person, the mission, the sufferings, the shame, 
the scandal, the death, the burial, the resurrection, 
and the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. The 
Psalm from which I have taken the text belongs 
to the first class: it contains utterances of piety; 
and there is no Psalm more suited to the Sabbath- 
day than this. " It is a good thing to give thanks 
unto the Lord, to sing praises unto thy name, O 
Most High," Then the Psalmist mentions the 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



107 



subjects of thought and meditation, and the peri- 
ods of time most appropriate to each subject : " To 
show forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, 
and thy faithfulness every night." And then he 
calls upon all the varied instruments of music in 
use in that day to aid him in giving expression to 
his emotion : " Upon an instrument of ten strings, 
and upon the psaltery, and upon the harp, with a 
solemn sound. For (here is the text) u thou, Lord, 
hast made me glad through thy work : I will tri- 
umph in the works of thy hands." 

Men and brethren, fellow-countrymen, and fel- 
low-Christians, you have many of you come up 
from the provinces to behold the works of man, 
the products of his genius, the results of his skill, 
the fruits of his industry, the memorials of his 
inventive and industrial energy; and as you have 
walked about the vast assemblage of the products 
of man's power, poetry, labor, and assiduity, you 
have wondered and admired. Now I crave you 
to turn aside and behold the works of the Lord. 
"For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy 
work : I will triumph in the works of thy hands." 
We will turn for a moment to the work itself— the 
work of the Lord ; and, secondly, to some of the 
reasons or grounds 011 which a contemplation of 
that work is eminently fitted to inspire the breasts 
of good men with sentiments of peculiar gladness 
and joy. And while I speak to the outward ear, 
may God speak to the heart! Consider what I 
say; and may the Lord give you understanding in 
these things, 



io8 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



First, let us turn to the woek of the Lord. 
"Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy 
work ; I will triumph in the works of thy hands." 
All the works of God with which, as yet, we have 
any acquaintance, are his works of creation, of 
providence, and of grace. Creation is his work ; 
He made the heavens and the earth ; He made 
the earth out of nothing, hung it on nothing, 
flattened the poles, drew out the equator, scooped 
the valley, sloped the hills. He spake, and it 
was done ; He commanded, and it stood fast. 
The rearing of the vast visible framework of 
the universe, the giving it form, and symmetry, 
and motion, so that of that motion there comes 
the regular return of day and night, winter and 
summer, seed-time and harvest ; these are the 
works of God. Providence, too, is his work. The 
rise and fall of individuals, the rise and fall of 
families, the rise and fall of nations, the rise and 
fall of the visible framework and platform of 
Churches — these things are the doing of the Lord. 
In providence he keeps back the face of his 
throne. His providence is in yonder whirlwind ; 
his providential footsteps are past our finding out. 
He sits behind a visible screen-work of secondary- 
causes, presides over all the movements of the 
universe, touches the springs that regulate them 
with the same ease with which the musician 
touches the strings of his instrument, hardly 
knowing that he touches them at all, and yet 
brings the music out, draws the melody forth. 
"The Lord reigneth ; let the earth rejoice; let the 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 109 



multitude of isles thereof be glad." But, my 
brethren, it is the object of the Scriptures to 
instruct us in a higher order of work than either 
that of creation or providence. The imparting 
of divine truth to the mind of man, the con- 
veyance of that truth to man's intellect, the 
clearing of the intellect from error, the purging 
it of prejudice, the removal of the mildew, the 
blight, the blast which had befallen that intellect, 
the purging it, the clarifying it, the getting it 
filled with truth again — that is the work of God. 
So is the implantation of divine grace in the heart 
of man — that grace which at first is such a tiny 
thing, a little speck. You see the green speck 
borne on the surface of the soil — what a delicate 
thing it is! Of that little vegetable infant just 
born there soon comes the blade ; but that is frail 
also, and trails itself on the surface of the soil; 
but fed by heaven, and nurtured by earth, the 
blade stands up and becomes a stalk, firm, erect. 
Nurtured still by the dews of the morning, fed by 
the springs of earth, fostered by the care of 
heaven, of that stalk there comes the ear, and at 
the top of the stalk a number of rows, each row 
filled with a number of vesicles, little granular 
bodies, each of these swelling, filling, and swelling 
again. The summer sun shines out bravely, and 
now you have u the full corn in the ear;" and it 
bows its head, and asks the reaper to gather it 
into the garner. Such is the work of grace in the 
soul of man. The renovation of the heart of man, 
the renewal of the heart in righteousness, the 



110 The Wesley an Demostlienes. 



removal of idolatry, the subversion of supersti- 
tion, the creation of the beauties of holiness, the 
recovery of the heart from its vassalage to Satan, 
the bringing it back in rejoicing homage to God — 
that is the work of God. 

But why is this work so emphatically called his 
work? " Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through 
thy work: I will triumph in the work of thy 
hands." Why, it is far more dependent on God 
for its accomplishment than it is on all other 
agencies besides. "Paul may plant, and Apollos 
may water, but it is God that giveth the increase." 
The work of conversion is in every sense and in 
every case challenged by God himself as his work. 
The work of addition to the Church is God's. 
Men may add to the Church, and sometimes they 
add hypocrites, sometimes formalists, sometimes 
infidels, but the Lord adds " such as shall be 
saved." You may have the most fearless John- 
the-Baptist preacher in the land for your preacher; 
he may deliver to you the elementary truths of 
Revelation in 64 thoughts that breathe and words 
that burn ;" but until influence comes from above, 
until virtue rushes from the throne on high, there 
is no conversion. It is when the power comes 
from above that darkness passes away from the 
chamber of reason, conscience trembles in her 
retirement, the citadel of the soul surrenders, the 
banners of the cross wave in its places, and the 
march of the soul to glory begins. This work 
may emphatically be called the work of the Lord, 
because it is his chief work, his sublimest work, 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



ill 



his grandest achievement. We disparage none of 
the works of God; they are all great, grand, and 
glorious. What a work creation is! The angels 
thought so, for they watched over it during 
its successive stages ; they gazed during the six 
successive fiats of the Almighty Creator; and as 
they beheld the work rise up under the form- 
ing hand of God, they wondered, they became 
excited ; when they saw the first blade of grass, 
the first ray of light, the first drop of water, the 
first grain of sand, how they marveled ! They 
had no knowledge of matter till they saw the crea- 
tion of our world. There is no matter in their 
nature; there is none in the nature of God. When 
they saw matter formed, how they wondered ! 
They mused in silent admiration for six clays ; but 
when on the sixth day they saw God take a por- 
tion of this new substance, matter, and unite with 
it spirit, and form of the union man, and when 
they saw him cover man over with the image of 
himself, they could restrain their emotion no 
longer. Having been silent six days, they now 
burst into a song which I must hear in heaven, 
which I must learn from themselves, before I can 
fully understand it. What a work creation is! 
Look at the green tints of spring, the bright flow- 
ers of summer, the rich fruitage of autumn, and 
then say for one moment whether there are any 
of the works of man which can be compared with 
the works of God. When you look sometimes \m 
the work of a great painter, a great poet, a great 
sculptor, some great artist, you say, " There he is, 



1 1 2 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



there lie is," meaning by that the imprimatur of 
his master mind, the footmarks of his prodigious 
genius, the dash and tracery of his wondrous 
intellect. And when we look on the works of 
creation, there is God. 46 Marvelous are thy 
works, O Lord God Almighty." Providence, too, 
is a sublime work. Look at Tyre. Why, her 
merchants are princes ; her shipping is an immense 
forest ; her population is uncounted. Look again ; 
and instead of its vast multitude, and its shipping, 
there is nothing but a solitary net, the net of a 
solitary fisherman, stretched on the top of a naked 
rock ; and instead of the hum of the uncounted 
multitude there is nothing heard but the scream 
of the owl. Who has done this ? What has done 
this ? Providence has done it ! Look at Assyria. 
See the flower of her army going out against 
Israel. They pitch their tents; they lift their 
lances in the sun; the helmets are nodding in the 
breeze; their bosoms are beating high with martial 
Are. Look again next morning : the helmets are 
not nodding, the lances are not lifted, the bosoms 
are not beating; the raven-wing of death has 
flapped over the whole army. Who has done it ? 
What has done it ? Providence has done it. The 
Lord fought for Israel. But great and sublime as 
are the works of creation and providence, the 
work of redemption is still more sublime. To see 
the brand of guilt removed from the brow of man 
■ — to see the lurking venom taken from the sub- 
stance of his soul — to see the man who lay on the 
brink of ruin, smoking, almost singed, for ever- 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



113 



lasting burning — to see him caught away from 
ruin, pulled back from perdition — to see him walk- 
ing about with the title-deeds in his hand to an 
everlasting inheritance — to see him now a child 
of God and an heir of heaven, — that is a sight 
indeed ! That work is the sublimest work of 
God! 

But without detaining you longer on this part 
of the subject, I now pass on, in the Second place, 
to point out some reasons or grounds on which a 
contemplation of this work is so eminently fitted 
to inspire the breasts of good men with sentiments 
of peculiar gladness. " For thou, Lord, hast 
made me glad through thy work: I will triumph 
in the works of thy hands." 

And here for- a moment I will pause at the 
threshold of this part of our subject, just to notice 
a popular fallacy to this effect, that though relig- 
ion is respectable, sacred, venerable, yea, august 
and heavenly, yet it is not blithe, cheerful, glad- 
some ; that though a respectable thing, it is rather 
a heavy thing ; that though a venerable thing, it 
is rather a melancholy thing. I call that a fallacy. 
There is no melancholy in religion. Who are 
they that say that religion is gloomy? Infidels, 
profane men. But w T hy should I listen to their 
testimony about religion ? I am not in the habit 
of listening to the testimony of blind men about 
the beauties of color; I am not in the habit of 
listening to the testimony of deaf men upon the 
harmonies of sound and variations of melody ; and 
if I do not listen to blind men about color, or to 
8 



114 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



deaf men about sounds, why should I listen to 
infidel men about religion? They never tasted it. 
They never experimented the matter. I know 
Lord Byron does say that man always was, and 
always will be, <; an unlucky rascal" — that is what 
Lord Byron says. I know Voltaire says, in lan- 
guage not quite so vulgar, but equally as intelligi- 
ble, that man is always devouring or being de- 
voured, that he is a carcass rather than a man. 
Am I to take Lord Byron's and Voltaire's ac- 
count? I will listen to David, I will listen to 
Paul ; I will listen to Peter, and to John, and to 
Habakkuk, and to Daniel ; I will listen to the 
army of martyrs, the fellowship of the apostles, 
and the company of the prophets, and the choir 
of believers ; I will take their deliverance, and 
accept their testimony, for they have tried the 
matter, and they say, "Thou, Lord, hast made me 
glad through thy works : I will triumph in the 
work of thy hands." 

I now crave your kind attention just for a few 
minutes to two, or three, or four considerations 
or grounds on which a contemplation of the work 
of grace and redemption is so fitted to kindle 
emotions of joy and gladness in the breasts of 
good men. 

In the first place, then, I say, it may well do so, 
because it is a work of such beneficial character 
and tendency. 

As a work of reparation of that that has been 
damaged, of renewal of that which has been de- 
faced, of recovery of that that has been wandering, 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



of salvation of that that was lost, it cannot be 
viewed by a thoughtful mind without the deepest 
emotions. I never can sufficiently admire those 
well-selected words of that famous angel who came 
to announce the nativity of the Saviour : " Behold, 
I bring you good tidings of great joy. . . . For unto 
you is born a Saviour." My brethren, the greatest 
character mentioned in the Bible is our Saviour. 
My brethren, my fellow-countrymen, the greatest 
saying in the Bible is, that Christ Jesus came into 
the world to save sinners. The great work of 
Christ is, was, and ever will be, to save. 

" Salvation ! the joyful sound ! 
What pleasure to our ears ; 
A sov'reign balm for every wound, 
A cordial for our fears." 

To see one, and another, and then another, of 
our fellow-men, renewed, regenerated, justified, 
adopted, sanctified, beautified, glorified — ah ! that 
is a sight of all sights the most gladdening. 
When Barnabas went into Antioch, and saw the 
grace of God, he was glad. When Paul became 
the instrument of effecting the conversion of any 
poor sinner, though that sinner were but the runa- 
way slave of another man, how excited he became ! 
I cannot but say I think there is an error some- 
where. Either we make too little of such an 
event, or Paul made too much of it. He wrote a 
letter to the master of that poor body slave, tell- 
ing him what he had done. I declare if he had 
converted a whole continent he could not have 



Ii6 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



made more of it. Ah ! I think he was right, for 
the angels in heaven are with him. " There is joy 
in the presence of the angels of God over one 
sinner that repenteth." Let but a tear, of repent- 
ance gather on an eye unused to weep ; let but a 
sigh of contrition form in the bosom unused to 
such an emotion ; let any poor sinner down here 
repent, and God announces the fact up in heaven : 
one writes the man's name down in a book; an- 
other angel with a swift wing gets up, and it flies 
all abroad ; he tells the blessed news ; the harps 
are caught up, the melodies are afloat, jubilees 
begin; and all the hierarchy of the skies rejoice 
over the event of the repentance of a sinner on 
earth. Wherever you see a sinner converted from 
the error of his ways, you see the first-fruits of 
a most glorious state, the scene of a mighty har- 
vest. " Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through 
thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy 
hands." 

Secondly, I wish to say that a contemplation of 
this work of God is eminently fitted to kindle 
emotions of joy and gladness in the breasts of 
good men, because it contains the richest ingress 
of the hand of its Author, All the works of God 
have some marks of his authorship. Is it Dr. 
Watts, or some other Christian minstrel, who 
says— 

"The meanest pin in nature's frame 

Marks out some letters of God's name? " 

Pass through the sky. The stars, and suns, and 
comets, and systems, rolling round and round — 



The Wesley mi Demosthenes. 1 1 7 



those immense masses of matter moving in their 
orbit with such soft and graceful ease, are 

" Singing as they shine, 
The Hand that made us is divine." 

Pass through the great wide sea : it tells of its 
Author. The ocean is an image, I had almost 
said, of divinity, a mirror of infinity, a reflection 
of eternity — ever preaching of God, of his infinity, 
immensity, and eternity. So I might go on, but 
so I will not do. I say that this work of grace 
contains a richer impress of the hand of its divine 
Author than do the works of nature. When our 
Lord Jesus Christ came a light into our world 
darkness covered it, gross darkness lay upon it ; 
and standing on earth, looking to heaven, lilting 
his hands, he said — I had almost said he boasted, 
and if I had said so I should not have recalled 
the expression ; we cannot boast ; no man can 
boast; no creature can boast; but Jesus Christ 
boa-ted, and had a right to boast ; and of all the 
utterances that he said, is not this one of the 
most affecting ? Standing on earth, and looking 
up to heaven, he said, "Father, I have manifested 
thy name; I have declared it, and I will declare 
it. No man hath seen God at any time ; the only- 
begotten in the bosom of the Father, he hath 
revealed him." O! these words, "He hath re- 
vealed him." What a revelation ! a revelation 
of God ! And when the apostles went forth 
preaching the Gospel — preaching the author of 
the Gospel, and Christ the principal subject of the 



1 1 8 The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



Gospel, then there followed changes which are 
described by the Apostle Paul in his own masterly 
way; and if any body wants me to give him an 
expression containing the whole philosophy of re- 
ligion, I will give him the following: "We all, 
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are 
changed into the same image from glory to glory, 
even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 

And what I have said of the general character 
of God, I now say of the several parts of that 
character — if, indeed, I may use such an expression 
in speaking of the Almighty. Of course, by the 
parts of his character I mean his perfections, his 
attributes. And where is there such a display of 
power as is this work of redemption ? Where is 
there such a manifestation of power as in the 
resurrection of the body of the Saviour, and of the 
conversion of the dead soul of the sinner ? I 
know they had put the body of the Saviour into 
a new sepuicher hewn out of a rock; I know they 
rolled a great stone into the mouth of it ; I know 
they set a watch, and put a seal. Did they roll a 
great stone there ? If they had dug up all the 
hills round about Jerusalem, and put them on the 
sepuicher — if they had dug the Alps up to the 
root, dissected the Andes from her foundation, 
cut up the Himalaya from her bed, and had put 
the Alps, and the Andes, and the Himalaya all 
on the sepuicher of Christ, would it have pre- 
vented the resurrection of his body? No! He 
was raised according to the mighty working of 
the glorious power of God. And what I say of 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 1 1 9 



this power in effecting the resurrection of the 
body of our Saviour from the grave, is equally 
true in effecting the conversion of the soul of the 
sinner. There is a grave for you, there is a 
mausoleum, there is a sepulcher, on which is writ- 
ten with the finger of God, " dead in trespasses 
and in sins." Can the dead live? Will the char- 
nel-house move ? Will the grave fly open ? " You 
hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses 
and sins." O, the power of grace in us ! And 
what I said of the power of God is equally true 
of the wisdom of God, and of all his other attri- 
butes. There is wisdom displayed in his works 
of nature, and his movements of providence, as we 
have said. Look at the flower in your garden. 
Look at the arrangements of the petals to form 
the corolla; look how one petal is put alongside 
another petal, and the whole grouped together in 
such a wondrous way that there is the largest col- 
lection of beauty in the smallest possible space, 
the largest accumulation of odor in the tiniest 
cavities. Look at that flower, and then turn your 
eyes upward to the surface of the sky, and see 
the flowers there; for if there are flowers of earth 
there are also flowers of the sky. God hath sent 
the constellations; they are flowers. When he 
made the stars, he did not fling them out of his 
hands like so many loose points of light to find 
their own location in the firmament. He made 
Areturus, he made Orion, he made the Pleiades, 
he grouped the stars. Just as he grouped the 
petals to form the flowers, so he grouped the 



120 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



stars to form the constellation. There is the con- 
stellation shining over our heads; and what but 
grouped in such a way as to flash the largest 
amount of beauty, and shed the richest radiance 
of benignant influence on this lower world ? But 
O ! look this way, and there is One speaking who 
says, " I am the rose of Sharon," u I am the lily 
of the valley," 44 1 am the bright and morning 
star." I do not wonder that the Apostle Paul, 
that master spirit, whose strokes were all his own 
— I do not wonder that he should say, that God 
in this scheme of redemption has 44 abounded in all 
wisdom." I have not time to follow this out— I 
mean you have not time to permit me ; therefore, 
what I have said here must serve as a sample of 
what might be said as to all the other attributes 
of the Godhead. They are all revealed in the 
work of redemption as they are revealed nowhere 
else. 

Thirdly, I take leave for a moment to say, that 
this work is eminently calculated to inspire the 
breasts of good men with emotions of peculiar joy 
and gladness, because it is a work so surprising 
and unexpected. Surprise is that faculty of the 
mind which has the power of very materially 
heightening the effect of any thing. I am not 
going to trouble you with the philosophy of sur- 
prise ; I merely say, it is that faculty of the mind 
which has the power of very materially heighten- 
ing the effect of any thing upon that mind. If 
any event occurs which you had no conception of 
— if it occur suddenly, beyond all your caicula- 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 121 



tions, the very suddenness and unexpectedness of 
its occurrence give it a purchase over the mind. 
This holds true as to Christianity — I say it is the 
must unexpected of all things. It never entered 
into the mind of man, abounding as its thoughts 
are ; discursive, exploring, analytical as they are. 
It never occurred to the mind of man, that God, 
in order to effect the conversion of the sinner, the 
destruction of sin, and the creation of the beauties 
of holiness, would give his own Son, take him 
out of his bosom, send him down into our world, 
clothe him in our nature, put him in our own 
place, and then pour upon him the wrath which 
we had accumulated. It never occurred to the 
mind of any one that, in order to render the in- 
terposition of his Son effectual to actual salvation, 
God would send his Holy Spirit, and say to him, 
" Go you after that sinner; go and catch him, con- 
vince him, soften him, draw him; go to him, tell 
him I send you on an errand of love, bring him to 
Christ, fetch him to the cross, that he may be 
saved, and saved forever." Here God has gone 
beyond all our expectations. His ways are not as 
our ways; his thoughts are not as our thoughts. 
The effects of the Gospel are ail startling; the 
doctrines of the Gospel are all surprising ; the 
privileges of the Gospel are all transcendental ; 
the prospects of the Gospel — nay, I must here 
avail myself of language consecrated by inspira- 
tion, and say, a Eye hath not seen, ear hath not 
heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of 
man what God hath laid up for them that love 



122 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



Him." As to the afflictions of life, Christianity 
places them in quite a new point of view. Now 
afflictions seem to be blessings ; now the cross is 
found to be a crown ; now shame is found to be 
glory. " Our light affliction, which is but for a 
moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and 
eternal w r eight of glory." 

I add, once more, that this work is eminently 
fitted to excite emotions of joy and gladness in us 
on account of its permanency. Sometimes this 
work appears to go on faster than at other times ; 
it seems to have a more rapid progress in some 
places than in other places. Sometimes it seems 
as it" there was a suspension of it ; but no, there is 
never a suspension of it : the work is always going 
on. When our voices have ceased to speak of it, 
and our hearts have given up beating in sympathy 
with it, other voices shall be telling of it, and 
other hearts shall be moving with it. Thus and 
thus shall it be till the light of the moon shall be 
as the light of the sun, till the light of the sun 
shall be as the light of seven suns together. Thus 
and thus shall it be till the beauties of holiness 
clothe every region, and songs of salvation float 
on every breeze. Thus and thus shall it be. This 
work shall advance, and spread, and triumph, and 
grow, and prosper, till there shall be unbelief no- 
where, faith every-where; hatred nowhere, love 
every- where ; confusion nowhere, order evt j ry- 
w r here; w T ar nowhere, peace every-where; dark- 
ness nowhere, light every-where; Satan nowhere 
on earth, Christ every-where. 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 123 



Finally, my friends, this work is eminently 
fitted to kindle emotions of the highest joy, be- 
cause of its necessary connection with still higher 
operations. I don't know whereabouts we are in 
this work; I don't know what link we form in 
this great chain ; but the works are in progress ; 
the links are adding, and some that are added are 
already rubbing into brightness before our eyes. 
As the works of that clock will not stop for me, I 
must content myself with saying that the work is 
too much for one world to hold. When it has 
filled one world it will rush over into another, 
and fill the recesses of eternity w r hen earth is a 
cinder and time a story. 

Now, my dear friends — for, having spoken to 
you an hour upon things like this, I think a colder 
and more formal mode of address will do no jus- 
tice to my feelings toward you; your minds and 
my mind cannot coalesce here for an hour in 
truths of this nature without affinities; at any 
rate, mine become strongs toward you, whatever 
be the strength of your affinities toward me; 
therefore, I cannot adopt a colder mode of utter- 
ance than that of my dear friends and brethren — 
what think you of this work of God ? When 
David wanted an ordinary measure of joy and 
gladness, he contemplated the ordinary works of 
God — his works of creation and providence; but 
when he wanted a holiday of joy, a jubilee of joy 
a triumph of joy, he stood on Mount Zion, tuned, 
his harp to the wonders of redemption, and then 
his joy, which before had been regular and even, 



124 lh e Wesley an Demosthenes. 



swelled like a river swollen by streams descending 
from a thousand hills; the mighty torrent fills up 
all this bed of the river, reaches its margin, flows 
over its bank, and floods the adjacent country. So 
the Psalmist had a triumph of joy — "Thou, Lord, 
hast made me glad through thy work : I will tri- 
umph in the works of thy hands." Are you the 
subjects of this work ? " Marvel not that I say unto 
you, Ye must be born again." Except a man be 
converted, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 
May I call upon you who are the subjects of this 
work to seek for its extension in your own experi- 
ence? All that you have experienced of it is little 
compared with what you may experience. What 
says Paul himself? " I count not myself to have 
apprehended." " I count all things but loss, that 
I may know" — may know! Why, did he not 
know? He had been six and twenty years at the 
feet of Christ ; he had written his divine epistles ; 
he had been caught up into the third heaven. 
Did not he know? He says, "that I may know." 
But is it some new school of knowledge he wishes 
to get into? No, it is not a new school; he only 
wanted to get on a higher form in the same 
school. Now, my dear friends and Christian 
brethren, I call upon you to labor to promote the 
extension of this work among others around you. 
Let no man live to himself. " Curse ye Meroz, . . . 
curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because 
they came not to the help of the Lord." What! 
does God need help? No, he does not need help, 
but he allows you to help; and because he allows 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 125 

you to help he challenges your help. Come up 
to 6i the help .of the Lord against the mighty." 
Christ has got into his car of truth ; he has 
ascended his chariot ; the chariot moves, the an- 
them swells, the chorus begins its halleluia; the 
King is coming, go ye out to meet him. Step 
out, step out ; if you do not you will be trodden 
under foot, or left ingloriously behind. " These 
are they," he will say by and by, ''that followed 
me in the regeneration ; I appoint to you the king- 
dom of heaven." 

Finally, there are some men, the ignorant, the 
infidel, the sensual, of this generation, who affect 
to despise this work of God, to sneer at it, to 
calumniate it, to misrepresent it as fanaticism, 
Quixotism, enthusiasm. I am not surprised at it. 
These men were foretold in the Scriptures : " Be- 
hold, I work a work in your day which ye will in no 
wise believe, though a man declare it unto you." 
Suffer me to warn such men. Not merely are they 
foretold, but their doom is foretold if they persist 
in despising the work of God: "Behold, ye de- 
spisers, and wonder, and perish." It never can be 
a small matter to despise a work which God Al- 
mighty works; it never can be a venial matter to 
ridicule and sneer at that work of which the Holy 
Ghost has the administration ; it never can be a 
trifling fault to ridicule and misrepresent that work 
which occupies the energies of the Son of God on 
his throne at the right hand of the mnjesty in the 
heavens ; it never can be a slight matter to sneer 
at and ridicule that work which occupies the con- 



120 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



temptation of the highest power and the highest 
angels ; it never can be a small matter to trample 
under foot and ridicule that work which kindles in 
the breast of the purest men sentiments of the 
highest gladness and joy ! 



in. 

THE S1WE REFUSED BY THE BUILDERS. 

" The stone which the builders refused is become the head 
stone of the corner. This is the Lord's doiug; it is marvelous 
iu our eyes." — Psalm cxviii, 22, 23. 

There is a great singularity in the composition of 
the book of Psalms, and so much so, that it differs 
from all other books of Scripture. And here it 
seems to unite, blend, and amalgamate the princi- 
pal characteristics of all the other books of the 
inspired volume together. It is historical, it is 
doctrinal, it is practical, it is pathetic, and, as you 
all know, it is pre-eminently devotional ; so much 
so, that the sweet singer of Israel shall be the 
singer for us; and when we want apt words for 
apt places, joint sentences for joint sentiments, we 
will cull them from the inimitable Psalter of David, 
for there is none like it. For though it were com- 
posed indeed for the service of the Jew under the 
law, it is not the less adapted to the service of the 
Christian under the Gospel ; but, like the manna 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 127 



which came down out of the clouds, and fell on 
the tents of the Israelites, it accommodates itself 
to all. 

Perhaps the whole of the psalms may be said to 
be capable of being thrown into the three follow- 
ing general classes. A considerable part of the 
psalms consists of ideas, or notices, or brief jot- 
tings, so to speak, of the religious experience of 
the psalmist. Therefore, as religion is substan- 
tially the same in every place and in every age, 
these expressions of piety are valuable now, and 
are fitted to sustain the soul of the most finished 
Christian, to feed his faith, to invigorate his hope, 
to deepen his love. And another part of the 
psalms consists of what I take leave to call prov- 
erbs, analogous to the Proverbs of Solomon, and 
maxims ; of circumstances, and instances, and sen- 
tences, in which the results of a thoughtful mind 
are embodied ; of men, and manners, and things, 
available for ordinary life, for political life, for 
public life, for every-clay life ; so that every man 
may find in the psalms and proverbs, a terse, 
pithy, golden rule of life of the greatest impor- 
tance. But another and principal part of the 
psalms consists of canticles, or songs of devoutly 
prophetic character; in which the harp of David 
speaks eloquently of the mystery of Christ, and 
discourses in glorious music beforehand concern- 
ing the life, the doings, the sufferings, the death, 
the burial, the resurrection and ascension — con- 
cerning the shame, the honor, the scandal, the re- 
nown, the humiliation, the exaltation of David's 



128 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



Son and David's Lord. It is to this last class of 
psalms that the one belongs from which we have 
taken onr text. It is a psalm consisting of a lyri- 
cal ode, constructed with great art, and skill, and 
power, and eloquence, in which the arrival of a 
conqueror, after a great enterprise in which he 
has been successful, is foretold. I say the ode 
describes the return of such a conqueror from his 
difficult conquest, and his approach to the temple 
to acknowledge the victory which had been ob- 
tained. He comes up the slope of the hill on 
which the temple stood; he has a retinue of fol- 
lowers behind him; he says as he climbs the slope 
of the hill, "Thou hast thrust sore at me that I 
might fall : but the Lord helped me." And he 
says, " I shall not die, but live, and declare the 
works of the Lord." Coming to the top of the 
hill, and appearing in front of the temple, he says, 
"Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will 
go into them, and I will praise the Lord." The 
Levites and priests who are performing service in 
the temple, and at the gates, respond to this call, 
and flinging the gates open before him, they wel- 
come him, saying, "This is the gate of the Lord, 
into which the righteous shall enter." Hence, 
stepping over the threshold, and appearing within 
the temple, he says, " I will praise thee : for thou 
hast heard me, and art become my salvation." 
Then the conqueror, the priests, the Levites in the 
temple, and the retinue who attended him up to 
the temple, altogether join in chorus, saying, 
" The stone which the builders refused is become 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 129 



the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord's 
doing; it is marvelous in our eyes." 

To what particular event this language origin- 
ally applies, I will not now undertake to say. It 
may have been a rhetorical, poetical description of 
some of those transitions in the personal and pub- 
lic fortunes of David, in which his life so much 
abounded. But if ever there was a meaning at all, 
that meaning is now lost, swallowed up, merged 
in the richer, undoubted application of the text to 
the Messiah. There is hardly any one passage in 
the Old Testament Scriptures quoted so often by 
the writers of the New Testament as the text. It 
has been cited by them some six or seven times, 
word for word, and upon every occasion on which 
they cite the language, they apply it unequivo- 
cally, exclusively, and rapturously to the Messiah 
of the Jews 5 the Christ of the Gentiles. I pro- 
ceed, then, on infallible authority, when from this 
text I preach to you Jesus. He is the " stone re- 
fused by the builders;" and I tell you that he has 
now become 4t the chief stone of the corner." I 
affirm that a this is the Lord's doing," and that 
u it is marvelous in our eyes." 

Let me speak to you, men and brethren, freely — 
First, Of the rejection of the Messiah as here 
described : he is called " the stone refused by the 
builders." Secondly, In contrast with this, let us 
notice the subsequent exaltation of Christ: "The 
stone which the builders refused is become the 
head stone of the corner." Thirdly, Let us dwell 
on the agencv by w^hich this transition in the 
9 



130 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



fortunes of the stone has been effected: "This is 
the Lord's doing." Fourthly, and lastly, let us 
notice the claim which the magnificent event has 
upon the attention and admiration of men : " It 
is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our 
eyes." 

L N~otice the Views here given on the Re- 
jection of the Messiah. He is said to have 
been " the stone refused by the builders." By the 
builders we are to understand the rulers of the 
Jews: their priests, their Pharisees, their great 
men, their official men. That Christ was refused 
by those builders will appear if we consider, first, 
the ignominy with which they treated his person ; 
and, secondly, if you consider the opposition with 
which they met his doctrine. 

1. I say, he was "a stone refused by the build- 
ers," because of the ignominy with which they 
treated his person. 

And if you form to yourselves any thing like a 
correct idea of the ignominy with which the per- 
son of Christ was treated by the rulers of the Jews, 
you must figure to your minds one against whom 
all the mighty men of the nation were set ; to oppose 
whom, the most conflicting sects of religion, the 
scribes and Pharisees, united together; against 
whom, with a malignity until then unprecedented, 
and never since equaled, every engine of destruc- 
tion, cruelty, and malice was seized, and directed, 
and turned, till at length, headed by the rulers, 
goaded on by the priests, stimulated by the Phari- 
sees, the whole body of the people rose en masse^ 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



131 



and cried, "Away with him, away with him, 
crucify him, crucify him. Behold, all ye that 
pass by; 5 ' see him whom the machinations of 
wicked Jews have brought before Pontius Pilate, 
and there condemned by an unholy sentence to 
an ignominious death. The builders refused the 
stone; they trampled on his word, derided his 
authority, slighted his tears, mocked at his benevo- 
lence, traced his miracles to satanic agency. They 
said, "Away with' him, crucify him." The stone 
was refused by the builders. Then, O ! who 
was he that was rejected? The Son of God! 
fairer than the sun of the morning. He said of 
himself that he was "the bright and morning 
star." They derided him when he was on the 
cross; they said, "Come down from the cross, if 
you are the Son of God ; if you be the Christ, 
save yourself." He might have come down from 
the cross as soon as they had nailed him to it ; he 
might have disentangled himself from the horrid 
gibbet; he might have disengaged himself from 
the irons which had been driven through his hands 
and his feet. The severity of the anguish he 
endured called louder to him than the rulers at 
the foot of the cross — " Come down from the 
cross ! " He might have done so ; he might have 
spread his wings and soared away to Paradise at 
once, but he did not, he would not. lie hung on^ 
held on, bled on, died on, till redemption was 
complete, and man was delivered; and then the 
universe was gladdened. 

2. Christ was " the stone refused by the build- 



132 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



ers," because of the opposition with which they met 
his doctrine. 

His doctrine was the only corner-stone that could 
bring God and man together on amicable, hon- 
orable terms. His doctrine was the only corner- 
stone that could bring different parts of Script- 
ure together, and make them speak a harmo- 
nious, an intelligible language; the only corner- 
stone on which angels and men could come to- 
gether ; on which the disrupted parts of the moral 
universe could come together ; and out of materi- 
als, naturally repellant and discordant, one mag- 
nificent, beautiful structure be reared. O, the 
doctrine of Christ was this, all this, more than all 
this! The builders refused it! They threw it 
away as rubbish. That stone, that beautiful stone, 
on which their eyes ought to have been fixed and 
centered in joy and wonder, was to them a stone 
of stumbling and a rock of offense. Why should 
we turn the edge of our censure against the Jews? 
We are almost ready to say, whey we remember 
and call to mind the ignominy with which they 
treated the person of Christ, and the opposition 
with which they met his doctrine — we are almost 
tempted to say: O, ye infatuated people! what 
could move you to mock, to taunt, to crucify and 
slay "the Lord of life and glory?" He healed 
your sick, he cleansed your lepers, he raised your 
dead, he gave sight to your blind ! What did 
you crucify him for ? O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem ! 
he ennobled thee by his birth, he enlightened 
thee by his doctrine, he distinguished thee by his 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 133 



miracles, he felt for thee such an attachment, and 
such a regard, that he would have " gathered thee 
as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, 
but ye would not." Ye would not ! Ye would 
not ! Here is an appeal by the mouth of his di- 
vine Father : O, my people, what have I done 
unto thee ? Wherein have I wearied thee ? — testi- 
fy against me ! I brought you out of Egypt by 
my great power ; by my stretched-out arm I made 
a way for you through the Red Sea, drying up the 
water for the soles of your feet. I brought you 
into the wild crags, and carried you out as on 
eagles' wings. I fed you with manna from the 
clouds and water from the rock; I gave you Moses 
for a prophet, Aaron for a priest, and Miriam for 
a prophetess; I brought you into the land of 
Canaan ; I gave you houses to live in that you did 
not build, wine to drink that ye did not make; I 
gave you olive-fields and pomegranates ; I gave 
you David and Solomon for kings ; I gave you 
Joshua for a judge, — what have ye against me ? 
wherein have I wearied thee? I say, again, why 
should we turn the edge of our censure against the 
Jews? The sin of refusing the Lord that bought 
us is not peculiar to the Jewish rabbi ; this is 
common guilt. How many of you refuse Christ — 
reject him ! How many of you are trusting to 
your own philosophic morality, your own right- 
eousness — goin<y about to establish a righteous- 
ness of your own ? Why, you might as well at- 
tempt to make the stream run up the mountain 
side, as well attempt to walk the starry firmament 



134 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



with your clayey feet, to get Satan from the bottom- 
less pit, and wipe the brands from his brow by a 
single wave of your hand, as to think of a right- 
eousness of your own. Behold the Lamb of God ! 
He is exalted, extolled, and become very high. 

xl ifotice the subsequent exultation of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. 

It is said that the stone refused is a stone ex- 
alted. I shall here call your attention to two ideas 
which are evident from the former part of the dis- 
course. I shall endeavor to show you, first, that 
the stone refused by the builders has become the 
head stone of the corner, inasmuch as that our 
Saviour's mediatorial person has become highly 
exalted; and inasmuch as that our Saviour's doc- 
trines became speedily victorious, subduing the 
hearts of men, and nations of men, to the faith. 

1. I say, the stone refused by the builders is be- 
come the head stone of the corner, inasmuch as 
our Saviour's person has become highly exalted. 

Why, Christ is now as high as ever he was low ! 
Thrown away as rubbish, and cast into the grave 
as offensive, noxious matter, that stone has been 
taken out of the grave, lifted up^ and placed on 
the top of the temple of the universe; and there 
it is ! Why, Christ, I say again — Christ is now as 
high as ever he was low; his personal glory has 
shone from behind the clouds that obscured it. 
Consider his ascension into heaven ; listen to the 
martial music which accompanies his flight into 
the heaven of heavens. As he w T ent up he dif- 
fused a joy on that occasion among all the 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



135 



innumerable spirits that dwell in the light and love 
of heaven. The songs of angels and of archangels 
rolled to rapture when they saw him take his 
seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 
Listen to the martial music ; listen to the acclama- 
ations of joy — gone up! gone up! with the shout 
of all ; with the sound of the trumpet ! Sing 
praises to our God ! O, sing praises ! Sing 
praises ! The stone refused is a stone exalted ! 

2. The exaltation of Christ also appears by the 
victory gained by his doctrine, in rapidly subduing 
the hearts of men, and nations of men, to the 
faith. 

That stone which the wise men of Jerusalem 
threw away as rubbish, apostles, and their suc- 
cessors in spirit and labors, took and laid as a 
foundation. And behold the consequence ! There 
rises on that stone a building ; materials are col- 
lected for it from the cottages of a nation, the 
halls, the palaces, and the huts. Materials for the 
temple are collected from east, west, north, and 
south. The stone is a loadstone, a magnetic stone, 
and it draws men to it. Christ said, "If I be 
lifted up, I will draw all men unto me." Behold 
these materials collecting on this foundation stone, 
as they rise up a superstructure, bright with beauty, 
adorned with Divine presence ! The temple rises 
higher and higher, fairer and fairer — a temple that 
fills the skies ! At first, indeed, the doctrine of 
Christ did not prevail among the rich and the 
great; not many wise men, not many noble men, 
not many great men accepted it at first, The poor 



136 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



first believed, the poor first accepted, it. But it 
was not long before it was like "the sound of a 
mighty rushing wind " in high places. Philoso- 
phers were touched and conquered by its truth; 
magicians were fascinated with its charms ; princes 
planted their thrones alongside of Him of Jesse. 
The doctrines of Christ crucified pervaded the 
Roman empire, triumphed in the senate, tri- 
umphed in the palace, and obtained a golden vic- 
tory in the senate-house of Rome ! " The stone 
refused by the builders has become the head stone 
of the corner." 

III. In the next place, Consider this change 
in the fortunes of the stone as the doing of 
the Lord, and not the doing of man; not the 
work of angels, not the achievement of an- 
gels, but the doing of the lord. 

This is the Lord's doing. It is the doing of all 
the persons in the Trinity; it is the doing of all 
the attributes of the Godhead ; it is the doing of 
all the dispensations of Providence. 

1. It is the doing of all the persons in the Trinity. 

The Father raised up the Son; the Father or- 
dained him, anointed him, sent him ; the Father 
acclaimed him, proclaimed him; the Father said 
by his voice on the banks of the Jordan, "This is 
my beloved Son ; hear ye him ! " The Son, in 
virtue of that power which he held in right of his 
divinity, laid down his life ; took it again ; took 
unto him his great power, and lives and reigns for 
evermore. And as to the Holy Ghost, I need not 
tell you that He who speaks by the prophets 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 137 



afterward speaks more powerfully by the apostles, 
accompanying them wherever they went ; clothing 
their words with fire, with more than the electric 
fluid, till they penetrated consciences, and reno- 
vated kingdoms. " It is the Lord's doing." What 
is the office of the Holy Ghost ? To glorify Christ, 
Christ himself said, tc He shall take of mine, and 
show it unto you." The things of Christ are in 
this book; and never till the Holy Ghost takes 
them, lifts them up, as it were, and gives a sort of 
dead lift — never till then are you properly sub- 
dued. You know a flower that you see in your 
hand or garden; you know it, because of the 
knowledge you have had of it : but let the botanist 
take that flower in his hand ; let him define it, 
describe it, give you its philosophy, its qualities, 
its medicinal merits, its .natural power, its affinity, 
its antipathy — let him show this, and w r hat a 
different thing it is now! You know the stone 
which strikes your feet ; but let the naturalist get 
hold of it, let him peel off its incrustation, and out 
comes a beauty spot. And this is the fountain of 
life. You know r it. It is the Holy Ghost that 
takes of the things of Christ and shows them unto 
men. 

2. This exaltation of Christ is the doing of all 
the attributes of the Godhead — 

The power of God, the wisdom of God, the 
faithfulness of God, the truth of God, the holiness 
of God, and his excellent loving-kindness. But 
one word on the unity of these.* It is the doing 
of his excellent loving-kindness. It was the kind- 



138 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



ness of Christ thus to exalt himself. " Thus shall 
it be done to .the man whom the king delighteth 
to honor." " Blessed is the man whom thou hast 
caused to approach unto thee ; " even to thy God- 
head. " God, even thy God, hath anointed thee 
with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." It 
was excellent loving-kindness to us; for if "the 
stone refused by the builders " had never been 
made the " head stone of the corner," you and I 
would never have been lifted up from the dust; 
we should never have been lifted up from our for- 
lorn and miserable condition But Christ being 
lifted up, we are lifted up ; he being exalted, we 
are exalted too. What are prophets and apostles 
to us without this stone? What are martyrs to 
us — what are services and sacraments to us — with- 
out this stone ? Take away this stone, and the 
saints in heaven fall from their thrones in glory ! 
Take away this stone, and the saints on earth, climb- 
ing to heaven, fall back immediately ! Take away 
this stone, and the grand living temple that has 
been building for ages crumbles into dust, and 
covers the universe with its fragments ! Fertility 
would fail, and desolation would fall on the uni- 
verse, if you were to take it aw T ay. You cannot 
take it away! Mercy is built up forever; Christ is 
exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, and he is 
exalted forever. 

3. Finally, on this part of the subject, it is the do- 
ing of the Lord, inasmuch as it is the doing of all 
the dispensations of Providence. 

I do not undertake to put my finger on the 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 139 



point of connection between all the events of 
Providence and the elevation to the mediatorial 
throne of Christ. I do not undertake to show you 
the connection between the movements of Provi- 
dence and the advancement of the Messiah's king- 
dom. My inability to trace that connection be- 
fore you now does not disprove the connection. 
In such a thing as a manufactory, constructed by 
human art and device, a peasant going into the 
manufactory sees a great number of substances 
lying about, the uses of which he does not under- 
stand : he looks at the machinery, and sees wheels 
rolling this way, and other wheels rolling that 
way, but to him it is all confusion. What is con- 
fusion to him is music to the engineer ; what is 
chaos to him is harmony to the proprietor; what 
is disturbance to him is symmetry itself to the pre- 
siding genius who conducts the whole. And all 
these movements which are going on in providence 
have an end ; and why ? For the King is coming ! 
the King is coming ! Behold him coming ! go ye 
forth to meet him. The wheels of Providence are 
some rolling this way, and some that way ; some 
seem rolling adverse to the others ; but if you look 
well at them you will find an eye in every wheel, 
and let the wheel turn which way it will, the eye in 
every wheel is looking one way, and that is at the 
throne of Christ. All things are hastening to be 
made bonds at his feet. 

" All hail the power of Jesus' name! 
Let angels prostrate fall; 
Bring forth the royal diadem, 
And crown Him Lord of all." 



140 The Wesley an Dewosthc?ies. 



IV. I now go on to the fourth part of the sub- 
ject ; and that is, to show you the claim which 

this magnificent event the exaltation of 

Christ — has upon the attention and admira- 
tion OF MEN. 

'-It is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in 
our eyes." I beg to say that I shall call your 
attention here to the only two ideas that I have 
hitherto drawn upon throughout the discourse. I 
shall show you, first, in a few brief sentences, how 
the exaltation of the Saviour's mediatorial person 
is marvelous in our eyes ; and then, secondly, 
more plainly show you how the victory gained by 
the doctrines of Christ in subduing men, and na- 
tions of men, continents of men, hemispheres of 
men, to the faith, is marvelous in our eyes. May 
God open our eyes to show us the marvel ! 

1. I say, that the exaltation of the Saviour's 
mediatorial person is marvelous in our eyes. 

What can be more truly marvelous than that 
the same body which lay in the womb of the Vir- 
gin, in the manger in Bethlehem, on the cold 
ground in the wilderness of Judea, wandering up 
and down like a common Jew peasant, sitting on 
the well of Jacob, covered with dust and oppressed 
with languor — that that same body which sweat 
drops of blood in Gethsemane, agonized in the 
garden, was crucified on Calvary, was buried in 
the tomb, was covered up, sealed in, fastened in — 
what can be more truly marvelous than that that 
same body should quicken, unlock the tomb, pass 
again into immortality on the third day, and be- 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 141 



come the head of an immortal society? "It is 
marvelous in our eyes ! " I know they rolled a 
great stone to the mouth of the sepulcher ; I know 
they sealed that stone; I know they set a watch 
upon the tomb. But had they got up all the hills 
round about Jerusalem, and thrown them on the 
sepulcher ; if they had cut up the Alps by their 
roots, and clashed the Ganges from its bed, and 
rolled all on the sepulcher, would that have pre- 
vented his resurrection ? No ! He would have 
removed the superincumbent mass ; for He was 
raised according to the glorious working of the 
mighty power of God. "It is marvelous in our 
eyes." 

I do not intend now to dwell on the comparison 
between the present personal glory of the body of 
Christ and his previous humiliation. Nor do I 
intend to introduce just now any comparison be- 
tween the personal glory of Christ's present and 
all other glory. I know there is other glory — the 
glory of the sun ; the glory of the moon ; the 
glory of principalities, and powers, and thrones, 
and dominions. But what are they all ? What are 
they all, but fugitive shadows ? What are they 
all, but evanescent representations of the glory 
that is far above all heights, and fills all space ? 
Halleiuia ! Christ is on the throne ! All kingdoms 
sink into bonds at his feet. "It is marvelous in 
our eyes ! " 

2. I vrish to show you, a little more Out length, 
the victory gained by the doctrines of Christ. 
" It is marvelous in our eyes." I was going to 



142 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



say that there is a seven-fold marvel : whether you 
consider the doctrine which won the victory, the 
instruments employed, the weapons that were 
wielded by those instruments while they were pro- 
pagating the doctrine, the opposition over which it 
triumphed, the number of those on whom it took 
hold, and over whom it prevailed, or the super- 
natural effects on all those of whom it took hold — 
whether you consider the one or the other, "it is 
marvelous in our eyes." Look at the doctrine it- 
self. It was not a doctrine agreeable to the nat- 
ural inclinations ; it was not a doctrine according 
to the national usages. It was a doctrine that 
tore up the pride and false confidence of men ; it 
was a doctrine that denounced false philosophy, 
false theology, and every thing false; it was a 
doctrine calling on men to give up honors, forego 
pleasures, contemn riches — a doctrine that called 
men to forgive their enemies, and to quench the 
first emotions of anger and revenge — a doctrine 
that called men to believe in the divinity of a man 
who, when he was alive, had not where to lay his 
head, and in death no place but in another man's 
grave, and to Relieve in the atoning efficacy of the 
blood shed on Calvary — a doctrine that called men 
to believe in the immortality of the soul, which had 
been deemed a mere matter of reasoning and con- 
jecture, and in the resurrection of the body, which 
the science of reason had always declared to be a 
downright physical impossibility. It was a doc- 
trine that went out with a crown on its head, and 
a scepter in its hand, and before which the wilder- 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 143 



ness became the garden of the Lord. Listen to 
what is uttered by one of the propagators of these 
doctrines : " Where is the Scribe ? Where is the 
disputer of this world ? For after that in the wis- 
dom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, 
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching " — 
by the enthusiasm of preaching, to save them that 
believe. The Jews require a sign, the Greeks seek 
after wisdom — we preach. They require a sign — 
we preach ; they seek after wisdom — we preach 
Christ crucified, the wisdom of God, the power 
of God. Before this preaching their philosophy 
will vanish. It is the wisdom of God and the 
power of God unto salvation. 

Then, again, if you look at the persons who 
were employed in propagating this doctrine — those 
who were first engaged in it. Were they got 
from the colleges of Greece and Rome, or called 
from the academies of the learned and the wise 
found in Juriea? No! They were fetched from 
the ships of Nazareth, the ports of Galilee; they 
were fishermen and tentmakers — " Not many wise 
men ; not many noble men." God chose the weak 
things of the world to confound the mighty. 
"They were able to bring to light things that 
were unknown." " It is the Lord's doing ! " The 
judge on the bench, the philosopher in his hall, 
said, u Whence have these men this wisdom? 
whence have these men this power ? " The securi- 
ty and success of the apostolic ministry were in 
the hands of the Lord; he was with them, and a 
great number believed. 



144 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



But what were the weapons wielded by those 
men ? Not threats, not menaces, not the edge 
and the point of the sword, not human learning, 
not despotic power. They went on u conquering 
and to conquer," by what? I tell you all the 
weapons they had — zealous preaching, holy living, 
constant praying, patient suffering; that is all. 
These were weapons, the edge of which was never 
blunted, and the evolutions of which turned the 
world upside down. " It is marvelous in our eyes." 

The marvel will more fully appear, if you con- 
sider the opposition over which it triumphed. It 
triumphed over the splendid theories of false phi- 
losophy, over an interested, jealous, and powerful 
priesthood, over the hostility and tyranny of 
powerful princes, over the malice and power of 
hell, over the enthralling vices, and passions, and 
prejudices of the human heart. The mountain of 
pride was pressed down, and the valley of humilia- 
tion was lifted up. " It is the Lord's doing, and 
it is marvelous in our eyes." 

And, once more, think of the numbers of those 
of whom the doctrine took hold, and over whom it 
prevailed. Ah ! but who shall declare Christ's 
generation ! who shall number the fourth part of 
Israel! Can you count the sand on the seashore? 
Can you count the stars in the sky? Where did 
the doctrine prevail? It prevailed in Corinth, the 
eye of Greece ; it prevailed in Ephesus, where they 
worshiped the great goddess Diana ; it prevailed 
in Antioch, and overcame idolatry so far as to 
originate a new name for believers in it, for we 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 145 



read, " The disciples were called Christians first at 
Antioch." It prevailed — where did it not prevail ? 
It prevailed in Rome itself. Whereabouts in Rome ? 
was it among the ignorant population ? Why, 
it prevailed in the palace of Cesar; for one of the 
writers of the New Testament says, " The saints 
that are in Cesar's household salute you." Indeed ! 
What! saints in Cesar's household? One would 
almost as soon have expected saints in hell itself as 
in the palace of Cesar ! The fact is, the Gospel 
will prevail anywhere — in high places, in low 
places, in mansions, in huts, in palaces and cot- 
tages. Nothing can hide it. 

And we may still swell the marvel if we con- 
sider the supernatural effects which it produced on 
all those on whom it fell and took hold. The lion 
was coming out of the thicket of the forest, and 
dashing forward toward the fold where the sheep 
were feeding, with his paw on the fence, just 
springing over; — he is arrested; his fire goes off 
from his nature; he takes down his paw gently 
from the fence, and walks in and feeds with the 
lambs. The lamb and the lion lie down together; 
the leopard and the kid lie down together. A lit- 
tle silken thread is put about the lamb, and the 
lion, and the leopard, and the kid, and put into a 
child's hand, and he leads them. Take up the 
thorn, the unsightly thorn : instead of the thorn, 
there comes up the beautiful, sweet-scented myrtle 
tree; and instead of the bramble, the offensive 
bramble, there comes up the stately and the ma- 
jestic fir-tree. " It is the Lord's doing, and it is 
10 



146 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



marvelous in our eyes." This was not a lascivious, 
abominable doctrine, which pandered to man's 
pride, bat laid it in the dust. In short, like the 
sun — the fairest image in nature — it enlightened, 
irradiated, fructified, beautified the desert and the 
wilderness, and made them blossom and bud, laugh 
and sing, like the garden of the Lord. u It is mar- 
velous in our eyes." 

But, my friends, there are two or three lessons 
which rise out of the subject, and to which I will 
call your attention for a moment or two on our 
way toward the close, and they come before us 
with the power of demonstration. 

1. We learn from this subject the divinity of 
the Christian religion — that Jesus Christ is from 
heaven, and that his religion is divine. I know 
there are not wanting men who deny this — who 
deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and 
deny that his religion is from heaven. Cruel and 
unhappy men ! Cruel and unhappy men ! They 
would rob us of our faith, which is to us more pre- 
cious than 'gold that is tried in the fire. They 
would rob us of our hope, that which is to us an 
anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast. Cruel and 
unhappy men! Take away what you will, but do 
not take our religion away. Why should you 
filch the crutch from old age? Why filch the 
staff from manhood — this staff of youth, its guide? 
Cruel and unhappy men ! I tell you, we will not 
give up our holy faith for your damning unbelief ! 
We will not give up our blessed hope for your 
accursed and withering despair. Neither will we 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



H7 



render railing for railing; but, the contrary, bless- 
ing. We will pray the Father of all illumination, 
that he may open the eyes of your understanding, 
as he hath opened ours, which were once as dark as 
yours! We will pray the Father of all illumina- 
tion, that he may send the irradiation of the light 
of his grace into your hearts ! But we would re- 
mind infidels — and not only professed infidels, but 
all practical infidels — that this " stone " is too 
great an object for you to possess it. to seize it 
with impenitence. Get upon it, and you have 
made your fortunes ; get upon this stone, and the 
heavens are yours. Yes, the happiness of heaven 
is yours if you are on this stone ! You have made 
your fortunes ; you have clone more than possess 
California or El Dorado — more than oceans of 
gold! But if you will not get upon the stone, the 
stone will be upon you ; and if the stone fall upon 
you, it will grind you to powder. " He that be- 
lieveth shall be saved: he that believeth not shall 
be damned." " Lord, increase our faith ! " 

2. We learn from this text and this subject that 
this should reconcile us to our 'present suffering and 
afflictions^ and even to the prospect of death itself. 

The language consecrated by inspiration, which 
I will now recite, will express my meaning better 
than any collocation of words of my own which I 
could now form. The language consecrated by 
inspiration, which I would now quote, is this: "I 
reckon that the sufferings of this present life are 
not worthy to be compared with the glory that is 
to be revealed in us." What do you say ? Do 



148 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



you say that the world is to you a " pleasant 
place?" I know that to some men it is so. And, 
cultivated by the hand of industry, it is a garden 
that yields some delightful flowers ; but if you 
would have the world a garden, you will allow me 
to remind you what sort of a garden it is. Like 
that garden which you read of in the Gospel — 
" There was a garden " — " there was a garden ; 
and in that garden there was a sepulcher." Well, 
the world is at once the cradle and the grave of 
enjoyment ! However beautiful its flowers are, 
however fragrant its fruits are, the flowers droop 
and fade, and the fruits drop and die — for in the 
garden " there is a sepulcher." 

My believing brethren, lift up your heads ; lift 
them up ! look up ! The grave beneath every 
shadow speaks. The flower lifts its head, and un- 
bosoms its beauty, and diffuses its fragrance — a 
flower that never fades, and never droops, and 
never dies: I mean the flower of immortality. 
Christ saith to you, " Because I live, ye shall live 
also." Christ is watching you out of the very 
windows of heaven, with all the glories of the God- 
head in his face, and all the music of heaven in his 
voice. He is calling to you, and he says, " Arise ! 
arise ! my love, my fair one, and come away ; for 
the winter is past ; the rains are already gone ; the 
voice of the starling is heard in our land, the 
music of singing birds and spring flowers are 
come. Arise! my love, my fair one; this is not 
your rest; it is polluted ; stretch thy wings; come 
thee away ; stretch thy pinions, and be gone ! " 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 149 



iv. 

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 

" He is not here : for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the 
place where the Lord lay." — Matthew xxviii, 6. 

Such were the words which were spoken by the 
angels — spoken by angels to those women whose 
love to Christ was not surpassed, unless it were by 
the angels themselves ; whose attachment to the 
Redeemer suffered no abatement of ardor; whose 
affection sustained no decay, and felt no decline. 
The angels are, indeed, exceedingly conspicuous in 
all the great events of our Saviour's history on 
earth. At his nativity they were visible, audible; 
they quitted every fountain of celestial intelligence, 
and came down to hover over the scenes of Beth- 
lehem, and with their unearthly music they an- 
nounced the nativity of Jesus, of the Saviour ; 
and now, at the second nativity of Christ — his 
resurrection, his birth from the grave, his coming 
up out of the sepulcher — the angels are there again, 
full of affection, full of zeal, full of tender offices: 
and as they had dispelled the fears of the shep- 
herds in Bethlehem, saying unto them, " Fear ye 
not," so they dispel the fears of the women at the 
sepulcher. " The angel answered and said unto 
the women. Fear not ye : for I know that ye seek 
Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here : for he 
is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the 
Lord lay." 



150 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



There is nothing; to affright us this evening:; 
there is no earthquake, no supernatural sound, no 
awful phenomenon, to affright us. Let us, there- 
fore, in the stillness and composure of a Sabbath 
evening, pay a visit to the sepulcher of Him of 
Nazareth, and learn from that sepulcher the mighty 
lessons of instruction and wisdom which it so well 
teaches. 

I propose, in the first place, to set before you 
the truth of the resurrection of Christ, and, in the 
second place, the importance of it. 

I. We will first notice the evidence of the 

GREAT FACT ASSERTED IX THE TEXT — THE RESUR- 
RECTION of Christ. 

The death of Christ was a fact ; no one denied 
that: it was allowed that he died; it was never 
disputed that he gave up the ghost. Pilate ac- 
knowledged, he was dead; the centurion said he 
was dead; the Roman soldiers said he was dead; 
the men who went to break the legs of the men 
who were hanging on the crosses, when they came 
to Him who was on the middle cross, and saw that 
he was dead already, they brake not his legs. It 
is a fact, then, never disputed, never denied, never 
controverted, that Jesus was really dead on Cal- 
vary. In fact, Pontius Pilate would never have 
given away the body of Jesus to Nicodemus un- 
less he was quite certain that the spark of life was 
fled. 

There is another fact which was never denied 
either, and that is, that Christ was buried: no 
one ever doubted that, no one ever denied that, no 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



one ever controverted that. He was buried, how- 
ever, in a particular manner, just as he died in a 
particular manner. The sepulcher of Christ was 
an aperture in a rock, a hole in a rock, a cavity 
hewn out of a natural rock, so that there was no 
approaching the sepulcher of Christ but by the 
mouth of it; there was no undermining it; there 
was no sapping and mining it, by which the corpse 
might nave been abstracted, by which it might 
have been taken away some other way than the 
way it was put in ; there was no way of the body 
getting out of the grave but by the way it got in, 
namely, by the mouth of the sepulcher. But the 
mouth of the sepulcher was shut up, sealed up, 
fortified with a great stone rolled against its mouth. 
That stone was sealed with the royal arms, the 
imperial signet was attached to the stone ; the 
sepulcher of Christ was hermetically sealed; so 
that it was supposed it never could be infringed 
upon, never could be violated ; and to make it still 
more inviolable, it was guarded by Rome's veteran 
legions. It was never denied, then, that Christ 
was buried. 

There is another fact which was never denied 
either — and I want you to see the importance of 
these facts, and their bearing on the subject be- 
fore us — namely, that the sepulcher of Christ was 
empty on the third clay. That was allowed. The 
women found it empty ; the angels found it empty ; 
Peter and James found it empty ; heaven found it 
empty ; earth found it empty ; hell found it empty ; 
it was an empty sepulcher on the third day. 



152 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



Then comes the fourth great fact in the series of 
these massive truths — the one now before ns — How 
came it empty f That is the question, How came 
it empty ? There are only two ways of accounting 
for the emptiness of the sepulcher of Christ : the 
one is, that the body which had occupied it had 
been stolen out of it ; and the other way of ac- 
counting for the emptiness of the sepulcher is, that 
the body which had occupied it rose up out of it. 
Stolen oat of it ! Pray, who stole it? It must 
have been stolen, if stolen at all, by one of two 
descriptions of persons : it must have been stolen, 
if stolen at all, either by the friends of Christ, or 
by the enemies of Christ. It must have been 
stolen, if stolen at all, first, by the enemies of 
Christ. ISTow, what did the enemies of Christ 
want to do with his body? They would never 
steal his body ; they had put his body to death 
that it might perish — that his name and history 
might be scandalized and blotted out. Resides, 
if they had stolen it out of the sepulcher, they 
might have produced it ; it would have been to be 
found; it would have been to be seen. And if 
the enemies of Christ did not steal it, if stolen at 
all, it must have been stolen by his friends. But 
were they likely to do it? What good would it 
do them ? Were they in a situation to spoliate 
the tomb of Arimathea ? A handful of fishermen, 
a frightened exciseman, and a shopkeeper, were 
they in a situation to overpower Rome's hardy 
soldiers, who had faced field and flood ? Were 
half a dozen men and women in a situation to 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 153 



overmaster the forces that guarded the sepulcher 
in which the body of Jesus lay ? I think, then, 
we must be prepared to admit that the body was 
not stolen out of the sepulcher; the emptiness of 
the sepulcher cannot be accounted for in that way : 
and if so, then there is no other way of accounting 
for the emptiness of the sepulcher but by adopt- 
ing the language of the text : " The angel said unto 
the women, ... He is not here : for he is risen ; " 
he was here, he has been here, he did lie here, 
but " He is not here " now — " He is risen ! " Not 
" He is stolen " — " He is risen ! " he is gone up out 
of the grave. " Come, see the place where the 
Lord lay." 

Now the resurrection of our Saviour, here af- 
firmed by the angels, is noticed by the apostles; 
they bear testimony to this truth. And you will 
remember they were not very forward themselves 
to believe it at first. When people are very much 
prejudiced in favor of a thing, they are, in gen- 
eral, very easily brought to admit the truth of the 
thing. But with the apostles the case was quite 
opposite. It is true, they had some intimation that 
Christ would rise again ; but unbelief covered 
their minds. They were overpowered by this one 
great misleading error, which prevailed among the 
Jews in general, and from which they were by no 
means free — they expected that the Messias would 
be a temporal monarch ; they looked for some- 
thing worldly and political from him. But when 
they found he was crucified, dead, and buried, 
their hopes were buried with him; they said they 



154 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



thought^ they had some hope, that he who had 
been working such miracles, and uttering such 
sayings, as he had, was he that should have re- 
deemed Israel ; but now their hopes had fled, and 
they abandoned the cause as hopeless. They were 
not, therefore, very forward to admit the resur- 
rection of Christ: nay, when the women an- 
nounced the event to the apostles they ridiculed 
what the women said, it seemed as so many idle 
words : nay, afterward when the Saviour appeared 
to the apostles themselves, they at first doubted ; 
they thought it was a spirit; they could not ad- 
rait that it was Christ ; and not till they had 
handled him, felt him, touched him, talked with 
him, eat with him, sung with him, did they be- 
lieve that it was verily Jesus of Nazareth, who 
had been crucified on Calvary. 

It is clear, then, that they would not have be- 
lieved themselves in the resurrection of Christ if 
the evidence of its truth had not been overpower- 
ing and irresistible ; nothing less than the cer- 
tainty of the fact could ever have made them to 
believe that it had taken place. 

Nor, if the resurrection of Jesus had been any 
thing but a fact, could they have persuaded other 
people to have believed it. And yet they did per- 
suade other people to believe it ; they went forth 
preaching Jesus and the resurrection ; and al- 
though the world was up in arms against Jesus 
and the resurrection, these men announced the 
thing they affirmed, they averred — they declared 
it, they sware it, they attested it from Dan 



The Wesley cm Demosthenes. 155 



to Beersheba, from Jerusalem round about unto 
Illyricum ; from one end of the world to the other 
they went proclaiming Jesus and the resurrection : 
and there was such integrity about their look, 
such firmness about their tone, such moral suasion 
about the.r manner, that, although the world was 
at first against it, the world believed it at last ; 
but they would never have believed it if it had 
not been true. 

Now observe who the persons were who bore 
testimony to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 
They were not persons who were not competent 
to the thing. Christ appeared not to all men, be- 
cause all men were not in a situation to bear 
testimony to that fact. It would not have been a 
valid testimony for a man to say that he had seen 
him alive after his crucifixion, if he had seen him 
only once before the crucifixion; because the man 
might have been mistaken. The men who bore 
testimony to the resurrection of Jesus were men 
who had been with Christ three years and a half, 
attending him in all his journeyings, gazing upon 
him in the performance of all his miracles, listen- 
ing to all his sermons ; they were familiar with the 
tones of his voice, with the features of his face, 
with the gestures of his body ; they knew him as 
perfectly as you know your father, or your mother, 
or your sister, or your brother. It was a physical 
impossibility that they could be mistaken in the 
person of Jesus Christ; and, therefore, we are 
told that he appeared after he came from the dead 
to chosen witnesses, to infallible men — to those 



156 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



who had been intimate with his life, all his ways, 
all his looks, all his manners — who knew ail about 
him before his crucifixion ; and these were the 
men who declared he was alive, and that it was 
the same person whose voice they had heard, and 
on whose miracles they had gazed. 

There is another thing concerning the testimony 
which was borne by the apostles; and that is, the 
time at which they announced it. They did not 
keep the thing secret a long time, and then, when 
the judge was dead who condemned him, and the 
executioners were dead who slew him, and the 
soldiers were dead who stood around the grave — 
when the whole million and a half of people, who 
(as a great German critic has shown) were at the 
foot of Calvary when Jesus gave up the ghost — 
w r hen there was such a great multitude assembled 
as had never before been gathered together on a 
similar occasion ; the testimony was not withheld 
till all this was done — till Pontius Pilate, and 
Herod, and the Pharisees and scribes were dead : 
on the third day after the crucifixion of Jesus — no 
more than that — three days after, while the streets 
were still sprinkled with the blood of him of Cal- 
vary, while the stones were wet with the tears of 
him of Nazareth, while the heart of Pilate was 
throbbing because of the anxious consideration 
which had been forced upon him in reference to 
Jesus of Nazareth ; while every thing was fresh, 
present, lively, — while the popular feeling was at 
its very height, — then, just then, did the apostles 
affirm that Christ was risen from the dead. 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 157 



Then ) ou will be so good as to consider also the 
irtace where the testimony was given. They did 
not go away over seas, and carry the fact to some 
distant part of the world that had no connection 
with Jerusalem ; they did not go away into some 
deep glen, to some inaccessible cave, to some 
part of the earth where examination could not 
follow them, where the falsehood could not be set 
right. They said it in the hall of Pontius Pilate, 
the very place where he had been condemned ; 
they said it in the pretorium, the very spot on 
which he had been scourged ; they said it on Cal- 
vary, the very place where he had been crucified ; 
they said it in Bethlehem ; they said it in Caper- 
naum ; they said it in all the places where Christ 
had been a few days, a few months, a few years 
before. Now, when falsehood is propagated, peo- 
ple sometimes carry it to a distance, to some place 
where the thing did not take place, where all the 
circumstances were not present which could throw 
light upon it. But here is no falsehood, but truth 
— demonstrative truth. 

There is one other circumstance which it is 
exceedingly worthy to notice, touching this part 
of the matter; and that is, that the evidence borne 
by the apostles, concerning the fact of the resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ, can be accounted for on 
no other ground but their belief of the fact. 
When persons propagate falsehood, they have 
some object in view in doing it, — either to gratify 
their ambition, or their avarice, or their pride, — 
some end of gain, or emolument, or ease, or re- 



158 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



nown. But, pray, what was the motive which 
could have influenced the apostles to give this 
testimony concerning the resurrection of Christ? 
Was it any love of ease ? Why, they had no 
ease : they went up and down, here and there, 
carrying the message from one end of the globe 
to the other. Was it a love of power or ambition 
which influenced them ? Truly, they never at- 
tempted to grasp an earthly scepter; they said 
the kingdom of Christ was not of this world. 
Was it a love of pomp, of affluence, of emolument 
— was it a love of any thing which this world is 
in the habit of accounting valuable ? No ! one of 
them acknowledged, in the name of all the rest, 
" Silver and gold we have none." Was it a love 
of pleasure? Why, we know that their very an- 
nouncement of the fact exposed them to persecu- 
tion, to torture, to death: their names were cast 
out as evil ; they were hunted up and down as wild 
beasts; they were burned, they were scourged, 
they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they 
were thrown to the lions. What could have im- 
pelled these men to make this testimony, when 
they secured nothing by it but loss of fame, repu- 
tation, liberty, life itself — every thing that a man 
counts dear? But, in the face of terror, martyr- 
dom, racks, gibbets, fires, blood, they announced, 
they declared, they maintained, that He who was 
crucified on Calvary was alive again, and that 
they had seen him. 

Now, I have been saying, in the first place, that 
unless these men themselves believed the resur- 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



"59 



rection of Christ — unless they had been convinced 
of it themselves, they would never have believed 
it; and I have been saying, in the second place, 
that, unless it had been true, they could never 
have made other people believe it. And yet the 
doctrine prevailed here and there, in this place 
and that. Philosophers felt that the evidence was 
irresistible ; magicians were conquered by the 
charm; princes acknowledged the truth of it: 
it was affirmed at length in the senate-house of 
Rome, in the palace of the Cesars, as a thing 
indubitable, a thing irrefragably, incontrovertibly 
true. " He is not here," — then, as the angel said 
— " for he is risen, as he said : Come, see the place 
where the Lord lay." 

We have thus noticed the evidence which we 
have of our Saviour's resurrection, and I may say 
that I have noticed it principally for the sake of 
the young people of the congregation. I am quite 
aware that to many of you it is not necessary to 
go into any minute detail with regard to the 
evidences of the great fact; but still I conceive it 
to be a matter of very great importance, that all 
who name the Christian name, and profess the 
Christian religion, and avow their attachment to 
it, should be acquainted with the evidence on 
which the great facts making up that religion 
repose : and, at any rate, the younger part of our 
families, the younger portion of our congrega- 
tions, have need to be instructed in these evi- 
dences, and to be made familiar with them; that 
when, in the highway of life, they are met with 



i6o The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



infidel objections — when they come to brush along 
the road with their fellowmen, and come to be 
taunted, ever and anon, with this objection and 
that, they may not be without their defense; they 
may not be without their shield ; that they may 
be able to confront the objections of the infidel; 
that they may be able to bring out of their quivers 
arrows of celestial truth — arrows of majestic force, 
the points of which never were, and never can be, 
blunted. 

II. Passing this, I proceed, in the second place, 
to notice the Vast Importance of the Resur- 
rection. 

I suppose that last Friday, either in this or some 
other place, you were glorying in the cross of 
Christ : this day we are glorying in the resurrec- 
tion of Christ. There is a danger lest we should 
make too little of the resurrection of Christ. The 
apostle says, in that triumphant challenge in the 
eighth chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, " Who 
shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ? 
It is God that justifieth. Who is he that con- 
demneth ? It is Christ that died ; yea, rather," — 
rather ! Why rather ? Why is the emphasis there? 
" It is Christ that died ; yea, rather, that hath risen 
again P 

1. Xow r , in the first place, we are to " come and 
see the place where the Lord lay," because in that 
empty sepulcher w T e find a confirmation of the 
character of Christ himself. The resurrection of 
Christ confirmed the character of Christ. Christ 
was the Messias, but he was not admitted to be so 



The Wesley cm Demosthenes. 161 



by every body. " A good name is a jewel." "A 
good name is better than ointment." U A good 
name is better than choice silver." It was no less 
valuable to Jesus Christ than to any one else ; but 
his name was cast out as evil ; he was represented 
as a deceiver ; he was represented as an impostor ; 
he was represented as a drunkard ; he was repre- 
sented as a demoniac, as a madman ; they said all 
manner of evil against him. He said of himself, 
" I am Messias — I am Christ — I am the son of God 
— I am the light of the world — I am the Saviour 
of men." Is he, or is he nor, the Messias ? The 
resurrection determines the matter ; the resurrec- 
tion answers the question; the resurrection set- 
tles the dispute. The resurrection of Christ was 
affirmed in the Scriptures; it was prophesied of 
in ancient Scriptures. O, in what beautiful lan- 
guage was the very manner of our Saviour's 
burial foretold ! It was said that he should u make 
his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in 
his death." And so he did : he was carried away 
from Calvary to Golgotha, the place of a skull — 
a place polluted with blood and bones — a place 
walled round, walled in, walled off, as a place 
where none entered but the tilth of human nature, 
the dregs of humanity, the offscum of the race. 
He had " his grave with the wicked ; " but the 
same prophecy said he should have " his grave 
with" — the wicked? No! his grave with the 
rich — 46 with the rich in his death." Who are 
those two men going to court, going to the gov- 
ernor, going to Pontius Pilate ? Joseph and 
11 



1 62 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



Nicodemus — two rich men, two learned men, two 
official men, men of great renown, two men of 
vast consideration, two men of great influence. 
These two men begged the body of Jesus, and 
they gave him the burial of a rich man. So that, 
though he had " his grave with the wicked" he 
also had "his grave with the inch." 

Then it was said that his body should not " see 
corruption" — that his soul should not remain in 
Hades — in hell, as it is rendered in the Bible and 
in the Prayer-book, though when they were trans- 
lated the word simply meant the place of invisi- 
ble spirits; not having the signification implied in 
the popular acceptation of the term, not merely 
the place of torment. Now it was foretold that 
he should not "see corruption" — that the "Holy 
One" of God should not "see corruption;" and 
yet it was foretold that he should die and be 
buried. Then the prophecy that he should not 
"see corruption" was a prophecy of his resurrec- 
tion : because in that hot country the body per- 
ished invariably on the third day : corruption 
enme on ; not as with us in this cold latitude, in 
this remote part of the world, in this northern 
portion of the planet ; but in that eastern latitude, 
where the heat was greater, where the heat was 
tropical, corruption took place on the third day : 
as the sister of Lazarus intimated when Jesus 
directed that the stone should be removed which 
covered the grave: "Lord," she said, " by this 
time he stinketh : for he hath been dead four 
days ; " the process of putrefaction has come on 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 163 



in his solids and fluids, and, therefore, the difficulty 
of raising him is augmented. Now, it was said 
that Christ should not see corruption ; therefore, 
it was said that he should be raised from the 
dead : and the Holy One of God saw no corrup- 
tion, for on the morning of the third day he 
burst the bars of the sepulcher and started into 
life. 

Our Saviour himself suspended his character on 
his resurrection. He did so on two celebrated 
occasions. On one occasion the Jews came to 
him, and, as they were wont, demanded a sign 
from him. " Sign ! " said he, " you have had sign 
upon sign ; and you shall have no other sign 
except this, — I give you this sign, and I suspend 
my character upon it; and if this sign is not 
verified, write me down an impostor; if this sign 
is not verified, then I am not the Messias." And 
what was the sign? He said, "As Jonas was 
three clays and three nights in the whale's belly, 
so shall the Son of man be three days and three 
nights in the heart of the earth." But, as Jonas 
was vomited forth — as he did not find a grave in 
the whale's belly, but a house, a home, a place of 
safety ; and as he came out of that house, and was 
vomited on the dry land on the third day; so, just 
so, shall the Son of man come out of the grave 
on the third day. That is the sign ; "I give it you : 
I suspend my character upon it ; I hang my repu- 
tation on jt, If that sign does not meet its corre- 
spondence in my history your unbelief is innocent, 
and I am what you take me to be — an impostor," 



164 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



But you know that though Jesus died, and was 
buried, and laid in the sepuleher — and though 
there was a great stone rolled against the mouth 
of the sepuleher, which was sealed with the im- 
perial signet — you know it was all in vain. Vain ! 
to be sure it was in vain. If they had pulled 
down the seven stars, and placed them upon the 
mouth of the sepuleher; if all the comets, and the 
planets, and the stars in the physical universe had 
been heaped on the sepuleher of Christ — if that 
had been at the bottom of them ail; if all the 
masses of matter which float in the universe had 
been piled upon the body of Christ, tier on tier, 
Alps on Alps, to prevent the resurrection of it, it 
would all have been in vain, quite in vain : on the 
morning of the third day he would have burst the 
superincumbent pressure, for he was the Messias; 
and if he had not risen from the dead he would 
have been an impostor; it would have been giving 
credit to a lie. He said, " As Jonas came forth 
from the belly of the whale on the third day, so 
shall the Son of man come forth from the grave. 5 ' 
And he accomplished this, and thus fulfilled the 
promise he had made, and his claims to the 
Messiahship were accomplished. 

On another occasion he said to the Jews : 
"Destroy this temple, 5 '— pointing to his body — 
" Destroy this temple, and in three days I will 
build it again.' 5 Now, he spoke of the temple of 
his body. The Jews thought, at first, that he 
spoke of the temple of Solomon ; but he spoke of 
the temple of his body; and if that was destroyed, 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



165 



on the third day he would raise it again. On that 
he hung his character ; on that he suspended his 
claims ; and when Jesus rose from the dead, it was 
announced, proclaimed, declared, throughout the 
universe, that he was verily the Messias, the Son 
of God, the Saviour of the world. 

2. In the second place, the event of the resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ is of great importance, 
inasmuch as it proves the completeness of his sacri- 
fice, and testifies to us that the Father has accept- 
ed that sacrifice as perfectly sufficient and valid. 
Now, the sacrifice of Christ began to be poured 
out when he shed the first tear in the manger of 
Bethlehem : the first tears that Christ shed in the 
manger of Bethlehem were part of the sacrifice 
for the sin of the world. When Jesus came down 
from heaven to earth, Justice followed him. Jus- 
tice followed him into the manger, and he wept in 
the manger. Justice followed him along the high- 
way of life ; and he bowed under the flashes of 
the sword of Justice. Justice followed him to the 
garden of Gethsemane, and there he sweat great 
drops of blood. Justice followed him to the hill 
of Calvary; Justice followed him to the darkness, 
and dreariness, and gloominess of the grave. And 
if Justice had not had its demands fulfilled, Christ 
would have been in his grave now. When the 
debtor is thrown into prison, and confined there, 
it is an acknowledgment that justice is not satis- 
fied, that law is not at rest, that it is still under 
demand. But when the doors of the prison a e 
thrown open, and the prisoner walks abroad and 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



spreads himself in the light of the sun, and there 
is a welcome given him in the face of the universe, 
it is an intimation that, somehow or other, the 
demands of justice are met — it is an intimation 
that, somehow or other, law is satisfied, and vindi- 
cated, and honored. And had Christ's death not 
appeased Divine justice, and magnified the Divine 
law, there would have been no resurrection. But 
he " died for our offenses, and was raised again 
for our justification ; " showing that thus he had 
satisfied the law, fulfilled it, and made it honor- 
able. Because his death was a full and sufficient 
satisfaction, oblation, and atonement for the sin of 
the world, death could not, did not, hold him in 
the grave ; and when he rose again to life and 
liberty, it was an acknowledgment that God was 
pacified, justice satisfied, the law magnified. O ! 
Mercy's voice is now ringing all over the world, 
because Christ got up out of his sepulcher. A 
paragraph preceding the text speaks of the angel 
sitting on the great stone, which was rolled away 
from the mouth of the sepulcher. What a beauti- 
ful triumph was that ! The ange's took away the 
stone, and they sat upon the stone. But what do 
we see on the sepulcher itself? We see mercy 
waving her hand over it, and telling the world 
that because that sepulcher is empty, there is now 
salvation for guilty men. "It is Christ that died, 
yea rather, that is risen again." 

3. In the third place, the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ is of infinite importance, because it proves 
the completeness of his triumph over all his enemies. 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. i6y 



The great enemy of Jesus Christ was the devil, 
Apollyon, Beelzebub, the liar of the universe, the 
grand deceiver, the arch apostate, the dragon. 
When Jesus entered on his great work, the devil, 
out of pure maliciousness, attempted to thwart 
him, to cross him, to circumvent him, to trip him 
up, to throw him down, to stop him from accom- 
plishing the errand on which he had come from 
heaven down to earth. Satan had conquered in 
the garden, and he hoped, or thought, to conquer 
in the wilderness; but when he came into the 
wilderness to confront Immanuel, just after Im- 
manuel's entrance on his great work, Satan re- 
ceived a shock, Satan was defeated. Still he re- 
turned to the encounter ; he repeated it ; he fol- 
lowed up Christ with this dark suggestion, and 
that dark suggestion, and the other dark sugges- 
tion : he employed every agency that he could, by 
possibility, influence. He instigated one of his 
disciples to betray him, another to deny him — all 
to forsake him. He instigated Pontius Pilate, 
against his conscience, to pronounce that extra- 
judicial, that non-judicial, that anti-judicial sen- 
tence against Jesus, by which he troubled his own 
mind immeasurably. Satan entered into Judas ; 
Satan entered into Pontius Pilate ; Satan entered 
into Herod; Satan entered into Peter; Satan was 
at work to upset the mission of the Messiah, to 
defeat the designs of mercy, to overturn the grand 
redeeming scheme of heaven. And when Jesus 
of Nazareth was laid in the rock of Joseph of 
Arimathea, when he was sealed up in that rock, I 



1 68 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



suppose hell had never such exultation. O, the 
enemies of Christ rejoiced ! the devils rejoiced ! 
Satan rejoiced ! but their rejoicing was short — 
very short. On the third morning, v\ hen Christ 
rose from the dead, Satan fell like lightning from 
heaven ; and, however loud the shout had been 
when Jesus was in the hands of his enemies, which 
he was for three days, it was surpassed by the 
groan of defeat, of discomfiture, of disaster, of 
chagrin, of vexation, of disappointment, of morti- 
fication — the groan that was heard when Christ 
burst open the grave, and shook hell to its utmost 
verge, and to its inmost center. Christ conquered 
the devil, put Ivs foot on the old serpent, and let 
all his captives go free. 

4. Lastly, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is of 
infinite importance, because it proves the complete- 
ness of his conquest over the last enemy — death ; 
and was the pledge, the earnest, and the foretaste of 
our resurrection. Mankind had always been im- 
pressed with a notion that there was some part of 
itself — something about a man, something in a 
man, somewhere or other, that would not die. 
They beheld man's body die and perish, but they 
believed there was something about man that 
would never perish. There was a notion of the 
immortality of the soul laid in the original struct- 
ure of the mind of man, and paganism itself 
could never wholly extinguish that feeling. But 
man had no idea that the body would be raised: 
arts had never taught it; science had never dis- 
covered it; philosophy had never hinted it; the 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 169 



grave of the body lay sealed, fastened, tied, closed 
up ; and man considered that the body would 
never live again. But when Christ rose from the 
dead, then life and immortality were brought to 
light ; then, as the mists flow down the mountain 
side when the sun arises in his majesty, so the 
uncertainty that hovered about the fortunes of 
the human body broke up and roiled away. I 
know there had been a resurrection before the 
resurrection of Christ ; Jairus's daughter had been 
raised again, Lazarus had been raised again, the 
widow of Nam's son had been raised again, and 
many of them of Jerusalem had been raised again 
at the time of the crucifixion of Christ. But there 
is this peculiarity about all those cases — that they 
all .died again. Lazarus died again, Jairus's 
daughter died again, and the son of the widow 
of Nain died again ; those that came out of the 
tombs, and walked up and down at the crucifix- 
ion of Christ, died again. But Christ dies no 
more ; when he once left the grave, he went back 
no more ; he was seen and heard saying, " I have 
conquered death and hell." We may well say, in 
the language of the Apostle Peter, " Blessed be 
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
which, according to his abundant mercy, hath be- 
gotten us again unto a lively hope by the resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inherit- 
ance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not 
away." The resurrection of Christ has begotten 
us to a lively hope of our own resurrection. 

Death, my friends, is a mighty conqueror. He 



170 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



has reigned from Adam to Moses with a despotic 
sway — from Moses to Christ with a tyrannical 
overbearing — from Christ to this hour with an 
awful power. There have been only two excep- 
tions to his dominion, and the two exceptions 
prove the universality of the rule. One man, and 
one man only, was saved in the old world ; and 
one man, and one man only, was saved in the new 
world — one man out of both worlds to tell us that 
all men shall live. With the exception of these two, 
Enoch and Elijah, all men have been compelled to 
yield to the touch of the black scepter of death. But 
when Christ entered the grave, death found that 
some one had come to enter the lists with him might- 
ier than himself, more powerful than he was. Jesus 

"Entered the grave in mortal flesh, 
And dwelt among the dead." 

But, because he was Jesus, because he was the 
Messias, because he had made atonement for the 
sin of the world, he could not be holden of death ; 
but death gave up his prey, and Christ rose from 
the tomb, " the first-fruits of them that slept." 
And just as the first ripe ears of corn, which grew 
on the plains and the mountain sides of Palestine 
were immediately brought into the temple, and 
waved before the Lord, as a pledge that every ear 
of corn standing on and growing in Palestine 
should be safely reaped and gathered in ; so the 
resurrection of Christ is a demonstration that we, 
his people, shall be raised again. If we sleep in 
Jesus, God will bring us with him : because he 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 171 



lives, we shall also live. Dry up your tears, then. 
Sometimes you go to the church-yard ; sometimes 
you attend the remains of your relatives to their 
long homes; you go to " the house appointed for 
all living;" and sometimes you see the bones lying 
round the grave, and you are tempted to take 
them up, and ask, "Can these bones live? Can 
these dishonored, disheveled, denuded bones live? 
Can the dead live again ? " " Come, see the place 
where the Lord lay." As surely as the sepulcher 
of Christ became an empty sepulcher, so surely the 
sepulchers of his people shall become empty sepul- 
chers also ; as surely as he got up and sung a jubilee of 
life and immortality, so surely shall his people come 
out of the grave. How beautifully has the prophet 
Isaiah expressed it ! "Awake and sing, ye that dwell 
in dust : for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the 
earth shall cast out the dead. Thy dead men shall 
live, together with my dead body shall they arise." 

What powerful instruction, then, is there con- 
veyed to us in the fact of the resurrection of the 
dead ! We may well celebrate it ; Ave may well 
memorialize it; we may well talk of it to our chil- 
dren, sing of it in our hymns, read of it in our 
Bibles, preach of it in our sermons, observe it in 
our Christian ordinances. It is one of the grand 
primitive rocks of Bible truth. 

In closing, I would just say, in the first place, 
how thankf ul toe ought to be that our faith is so 
fully confirmed. We do not believe in cunningly- 
devised fables. Our rock is not as their rock, our 
enemies themselves being judges. 



172 



The \VesLy an Demosthenes. 



In the second place, if Christ is risen, let us take 
care to rise with him. "If ye, then, be risen with 
Christ, seek those things which are above, where 
Christ sitteth on the right hand of God ; " but set 
them above, " where Christ sitteth on the right 
hand of God." Ct Reckon ye yourselves to be dead 
indeed unto sin, but be alive unto God, through 
Jesus Christ our Lord." Let u your conversation 
be in heaven ; from whence also we look for the 
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change 
our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto 
his glorious body, according to the working where- 
by he is able to subdue all things unto himself." 

Lastly, my friends, let us anticipate the glories of 
the final resurrection. Let us look forward to the 
general jubilee of the universe— to the time when 
every charnel-house shall be opened, and every 
grave unlocked, and every mausoleum be untenant- 
ed, and every cemetery emptied. The time is coming 
when " all that are in the graves shall hear the voice 
of the Son of man ; they that have done good, unto 
the resurrection of Life ; and they that have done 
evil, unto the resurrection of condemnation." 

Let me close with the words employed by the 
patriarch long ago — words worthy of the patriarch, 
worthy of being written on a rock with a pen of 
the diamond : " I know that my Redeemer liveth, 
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the 
earth: and though after my skin worms destroy 
this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God : whom 
I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold." 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 173 



Y. 

THE CITY OF REFUGE. 

"That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible 
for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have 
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. — 
Hebrews vi, 18. 

Of the grandeur of truth — of the origin of man's 
redemption — of the means whereby it has been 
procured — of the privileges which it confers upon 
the redeemed in this life, and the glories and beati- 
tudes which it secures to them in the life to come, — 
these are the things, the knowledge of which be- 
longs to our peace — things compared with which 
the gains of business, the accumulations of wealth, 
the splendors of science, the discoveries of philoso- 
phy, the charms of sense, are lighter than vanity, 
and less than nothing: for what is chaff to the 
wheat? What is the shadow to the substance? 
What is time to eternity ? What is finite to infi- 
nite? What are the pleasures of sense which se- 
duce and destroy the sons of vanity, compared with 
the pleasures of godliness, the joys of redemption ? 

The Epistle to the Hebrews — one of the sub- 
stantial products of inspiration in the New Testa- 
ment — has a specific value all its own: it throws a 
blaze of light on all the previous parts of Scrip- 
ture : it is itself a standing finger-post to the Scrip- 
tures of the Old Testament; and lest any one 
should turn away from the Old Testament, as 



174 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



though it were not fitted to nourish the faith, or 
feed the hope, or influence the love, or kindle the 
devotions of the man under the dispensation of the 
Gospel — lest any should turn away from it as 
though it were a mere element of a Christian 
school-boy, containing but the rudiments of Chris- 
tian scholarship, the Epistle to the Hebrews is 
before us, a part of New Testament inspiration, 
which throws an everlasting interest over the 
Scriptures of the Old Testament. The two Testa- 
ments, indeed, are like the olive trees, planted in 
the courts of the house of the Lord, or like two 
golden candlesticks destined to shine for the light 
and guidance and safety and blessedness of the 
Church, so long as the Church militant shall last. 
Now, the chapter before us, from which I have 
taken the words of the text, abounds with refer- 
ences to the Old Testament Scriptures. 61 And we 
desire," says the apostle, at the beginning of the 
paragraph, "that every one of you do show the 
same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto 
the end : that ye be not slothful, but followers of 
them who through faith and patience inherit the 
promises. For when God made promise to Abra- 
ham, because he could swear by no greater, he 
sware by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will 
bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 
And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained 
the promise. For men verily swear by the greater : 
and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of 
all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly 
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



175 



of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath : " — then 
comes the text — " That by t wo immutable things, in 
which it was impossible for God to lie, we might 
have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge 
to lay hold upon the hope set before us." And 
now your preacher will proceed to preach unto 
you Jesus. 

" Forever his dear, sacred name 
Shall dwell upon our tongue; 
And Jesus and salvation be 
The theme of every song." 

And let me say to yon at once, that if any of 
you are now lying in the pit of an unconverted 
state, the cords of salvation are let down to you, 
and taking hold of them, you may, through the 
blood of the everlasting covenant, be drawn up 
out of the pit into the life of the living. Consider 
what I say, and may the Lord give you under- 
standing in these things ! 

I. Allow me to bring before your consideration 

THE VIEW GIVE]ST OF THE S A VI OUR IN THE TEXT. 

He is called " the hope set before us" 

In the Scriptures of truth we read of hope that 
is in us, hope that is laid up for us, and hope that 
is set before us. The happiness of heaven — heaven 
itself — its light and glory, its songs, and its blessed- 
ness — that is the hope laid up for us; that good 
work of the Holy Spirit's operation on the heart, 
here and now, whereby we look for the former, 
and for the earnest of it, is the hope that is in us : 
and our Lord Jesus himself, the only foundation 



1 7 6 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



and hope, for sinner or for saint, for pardon or for 
holiness, is the hope set before us. 

I need not inform my intelligent hearers that 
there is in the language I have read an obvious 
allusion to the institutions of the theocracy of the 
Jews, according to which there were certain cities 
provided and ordained for the reception and shelter 
of the manslayer. Fleeing to one of these desirable 
asylums from the fury of the avenger of blood, he 
was safe, his life secured, his person charmed, his 
body invulnerable, and all by the laws of the 
realm. A most expressive emblem were these 
cities of refuge under the law, of Christ Jesus under 
the Gospel. What the city of refuge was to the 
manslayer, that Christ Jesus is to the sinner. The 
cities of refuge under the law were the only legal 
places of shelter for the manslayer, and our Lord 
Jesus Christ himself is the only legitimate ground 
of hope for any of the sinners of mankind. But 
for him we have no hope. I do not say we have 
no feeling of hope — the feeling of hope may exist 
where the ground of hope does not ; but I say 
that but for Christ Jesus we have no hope, no 
ground of hope at all as sinners. A few reflections 
of natural conscience, I think, will be sufficient to 
show you that as to the pardon of sin here, as to 
the happiness of the soul in the separate state 
hereafter, and as to the resurrection of the body in 
circumstances of beauty, immortality, and purity — - 
that, as to these things, nature can give us no hope 
at all. As to the pardon of sin here, nature may 
sigh for it, cry for it, long for it, groan for it ; but, 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 177 

as Bishop Stillingfleet said — or, rather, Howe before 
him — there are many stars in the heavens, one 
teaching this and another that, one looking this 
way and another looking that way; but there is 
no star in the heavens pointing a poor sinner to a 
Saviour. Take the question, " What must I do to 
be saved ? " Take it to nature in all her king- 
doms, in all her realms, in all her laboratories, in 
all her chambers of mystery; take it here and 
there, and knock at every door, and put the ques- 
tion ; but there is no response, no answer at all. 
Nature, philosophy, science, are all dumb to that 
great question, u What must I do to be saved V " 
As to the happiness of the soul in the separate 
state hereafter, nature can tell us nothing certain 
about that — it is fallible conjecture, not certain 
knowledge ; ardent wish, not positive assurance — a 
feeble nickering, not undoubted, substantive, abso- 
lute revelation. And as to the resurrection of the 
body, after it has slept the sleep of a thousand 
generations — its resurrection in beauty, immor- 
tality, and glory — that is a doctrine so peculiar to 
revelation, that it never w T as once so much as 
dreamed of by any of the sages of antiquity as 
being contained within the whole circle of Divine 
truth. But, my brethren, my fellow-countrymen, 
my fellow-men, there is hope for all these things 
in the Lord Jesus Christ. O, thou hope of Israel ! 
to whom shall we go but unto thee ? Thou hast 
the words of eternal life. In the designation from 
all eternity of our Loid Jesus Christ to the work 
of substitution to our guilty race we see a rich 
12 



178 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



purpose of Divine mercy toward it, breaking up, 
developing itself, flowing off, running out, going 
away. In the incarnation of Christ in the fullness 
of time, we see the foundation laid on which the 
superstructure of our salvation- — arch on arch, tier 
on tier, in all the loveliness of its Divine beauty, 
in all the fullness of its Divine perfection — is reared. 
In the suffering, cross, passion, death, and burial 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, we see the price and 
purchase of our redemption; in his triumphant 
resurrection, ascension, and intercession at the 
right hand of the Majesty on high, we see the 
pledge, pattern, and security of our salvation ; 
while the revelation, the gift, the grant of all in 
this book and in this Gospel, sets before the hand 
of faith and the eye of hope salvation with eternal 
glory. So true as well as so beautiful, so just as 
well as so metaphorical, is the representation given 
in the text. He is emphatically the hope set be- 
fore us. 

II. I proceed to notice, for a moment, the con- 
duct OF THE MAN DESCRIBED IN THE TEXT IN 
REFERENCE TO THIS BLESSED OBJECT. He IS Said 

to "flee for refuge" and to "lay hold upon UP 

In this there is an allusion to the institutions 
already referred to — namely, the flight of the man- 
slayer to the city of refuge. Me thinks I descry 
the manslayer looking behind him: he sees the 
avenger of blood — he sees the horrible burning 
frown upon his brow, he hears the dismal tramp 
of his feet — and away he flies! he stops not, turns 
not out of his course, but presses on, and on, with 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 179 



aecel 'rated speed, until at length, all panting and 
breathless, he enters the hallowed gates of the city 
of refuge and enters into peace. Such is the 
night of the sinner's soul to the arms of Jesus 
Christ. This representation sets before us the case 
of a man struck with a conviction of guilt, smitten 
with an apprehension of danger, despairing of re- 
lieving himself, coming out of himself, and trusting 
to another. These are some of the steps which lie 
at the foundation of that great change which the 
Scriptures call conversion — salvation — that change 
which if a man undergoes not, it were better he 
had never been born. Not, indeed, that the sinner 
was always found fh the attitude of flight toward 
the city of refuge. Formerly the sinner was easy 
in his sins. The secrecy of his sins, and the exam- 
ple of the multitude, the hope of a long life, the 
distance of the day of judgment; some loose 
notions of the mercy of God floating in his brain, 
coming he knew not whence, and leading he knew 
not whither; — to these things he looked for relief 
from his melancholy when it came over him — and 
sometimes it would come over him; or else, per- 
haps, he attempted to still the enemy and the 
avenger by plunging into scenes of mirth, and 
revelry, and dissipation. But now that the con- 
science of the sinner is under the arrest of the 
Holy Ghost — now that the thunders of Sinai are 
rolling around him, and the lightning flashes of 
indignation against sin are perceived by him — now 
stricken, smitten, convinced, convicted, he falls 
down, and he feels, just as I believe Adam felt in 



i8o The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



the garden of Eden, on the back of his great 
offense, that he has nothing to screen him from the 
eye, or shelter him from the wrath, of Omnipo- 
tence. He looks this way and that way, before 
him and behind him, but there is no refuge for 
him ! 

At this period, observe the method of salvation 
by Jesus Christ in the Gospel unfold itself to his 
view. And O, what new charms he now discovers 
in that method ! The very name of Jesus, which 
was before an insipid sound, is now to him like 
music. His soul leaps within him, to know that 
" God is in Christ reconciling the world unto him- 
self, not imputing to men their trespasses;" his 
heart dances for joy when he finds that it is a 
faithful saying that Christ Jesus came into the 
world to save sinners." But observe, his convic- 
tion of guilt and danger and ruin, being now no 
longer superficial, but pervading, individual, and 
thorough, he is not satisfied with this merely gen- 
eral representation of the matter; it is not now 
enough for him to know in so many general terms 
that God is merciful, and that Christ is a Saviour; 
he now narrowly pries into the' whole affair — into 
the authority and commission of Christ to sa\ e, 
into his ability and qualifications to save, into his 
willingness and readiness to save. As to the 
authority and commission of Christ to save sin- 
ners, the awakened sinner is glad to find Jesus is 
God's Son, that God sent him into the world, not 
to condemn the world, but that the world through 
him might be saved. He now finds that Jesus 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



181 



Christ is chartered to save, legalized to save, 
authorized to save. 

" Commissioned from his Father's throne, 
To make his grace to sinners known." 

He hears, as it were, the voice coming from the 
more than immortal glory, saying, a This is my 
beloved Son, hear ye him; he shall show* salvation 
unto all the nations.' 5 Having found a Saviour 
commissioned to save, he now looks unto his ability 
and qualifications to fulfill this commission ; and all 
his anxiety on this subject is met and relieved by 
the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and 
John, who, like four trumpeters, are standing east, 
west, north, and south, telling men what Christ 
has done and suffered to save them. Led by these 
evangelists, he goes to Bethlehem, and sees the 
great sight there; and, entering into the stable, 
and looking into the manger, he sees the Aurora 
blush for the world's redemption ; and as he gazes 
on the infant Jesus, he feels as if he could fill the 
manger with his tears. Led by the evangelists, he 
goes to the wilderness, and there watches the strug- 
gle between Christ and Satan. Satan had tri- 
umphed in the garden ; he tried to triumph in the 
wilderness : he had conquered the first Adam ; he 
labored mightily to conquer the second Adam. 
But Christ triumphed in the wilderness ; Satan 
was routed, the head of the serpent was crushed, 
and the awakened sinner beholds the triumphant 
Saviour. Led by the evangelists, he goes on 
through his life, his miracles and sufferings. Pass- 



1 82 The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



ing through the garden of Gethsemane, he is con- 
ducted to the hill of Calvary, aud he walks about 
; t and about it, and there beholds the Lamb of 
£S-od taking away the sins of the world. The sword 
of justice had a commission to smite the man that 
was Jehovah's fellow; it smote him in Bethlehem, 
it smote him all along the highway of his life, even 
to Calvary. On Calvary the strokes of the sword 
fell heavy ; the glances of that sword then dark- 
ened the sun ; the strokes of the sword shook 
earth, shook hell; it kept smiting and smiting the 
man that was God's fellow, till at last he cried, 
" It is finished." Then the sword fell down at the 
foot of the cross, hushed, lulled, pacified ; and it 
lay there till the third hallowed morning, when it 
was found changed into a scepter of mercy, and 
that scepter of mercy has been waving among 
mankind ever since, and it is waving now ; it is 
waving in this assembly; it is waving here that 
any one may stretch the hand, and touch the scep- 
ter, and whoever touches it shall live, and may 
live forever. Now, when he has found a Saviour 
able to save to the uttermost, he follows him ; he 
sees him laid in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea ; 
he watches there till the third hour of morning, 
when he sees the great stone rolled away; then he 
sees the Saviour rise, and hears him singing, "I 
have conquered death and hell; having overcome 
the sharpness of death, I open the kingdom of 
heaven to all believers," And now the aw r akened 
sinner sees the Saviour ascen«U not carried away 
in a chariot of fire, not removed by a whirlwind. 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 183 



not lilted off by any violent commotion of the 
elements of nature; but rising slowly, gradually, 
softly, breaking all the laws of gravitation and 
attraction, ascending up, up, up, until he reaches 
the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens: 
there he sits, for his work is done, his task is 
finished, his enterprise is completed ; having purged 
our sins by his blood, he sits down at the right 
hand of the throne of God. I say again, the sin- 
ner has now found a Saviour mighty to save. 

The only remaining point to be settled is this, 
" What warrant have I to believe that he will save 
me — a wretch like me? There maybe salvation, 
but it may not be for the men in this part of the 
world ; there may be salvation for some men in 
this part of the world, but there may not be salva- 
tion for me ; there may be salvation for some of 
this congregation, but is there salvation for me?" 
This is settled by the discovery which the awakened 
sinner now makes of the freeness and the fullness 
of the Gospel, by discovering that Christ came to 
save sinners, not because they deserved, but be- 
cause they needed his interposition ; and the clear- 
er, the deeper, the stronger is his conviction of 
being a sinner, the clearer, the wider, and the 
straighter does the road open before him to go to 
God for salvation. And now the battlements of 
the city walls are just coming fully to view; and, 
as the manslayer would promptly disencumber 
himself of every thing which would impede his 
flight or retard his progress to the city of refuge, 
so the awakened sinner now puts away the only 



184 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



two things that can hinder any man out of hell 
from being saved — his sins and his self-righteous- 
ness. His sins he breaks off by true repentance ; 
and as to his relf-righteousness, what things were 
gain to him he now counts loss for Christ. The 
city being full in view, away he flies ; and, coming 
to Jesus, and clasping his feet, he says, " Blessed 
Jesus, I come to thee ! Thou art my refuge, I 
lean my helpless soul on thee ! on thee, my high 
tower, I build my hope ! on thee, my rock, I place 
my foundation ! Thou art the Prophet — thy teach- 
ing shall be my light! thou the Priest — thy aton- 
ing death shall be my justifying righteousness! 
that, sprinkled with thy blood, when the destroy- 
ing angel goes by I may be saved. Thou King 
of Zion ! I embrace thee, I acknowledge thee, I 
bow down before thee, and in token of reverence 
and love, I kiss the Son." Now he has got within 
the city, and has "a strong consolation." 

III. I now advance to the last part of my sub- 
ject THE PRIVILEGE AND HAPPINESS OF THOSE 

WHO HAVE THUS FLED TO CHRIST JeSUS FOR 

refuge. " By two immutable things, in which it 
was impossible for God to lie," they have " a strong 
consolation" 

1. What is consolation ? It is the relief of the 
mind under any trouble or pain ; or the presence 
and enjoyment of a good which is able to prevent 
altogether, or else carry away aud bear down be- 
fore it, as in a full tide or flowing stream, all evil 
felt or feared. Two things would occur to the 
mind of the manslayer in connection with his 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 185 



flight to the city of refuge. One would be : " Is 
it true — is it really, absolutely, incontrovertibly 
true — that if I get to the city of refuge the avenger 
dares not, must not touch me?" The other would 
be : " Suppose I get to the city, and am secure 
against the stroke of the avenger, what kind of 
accommodation and provision shall I find within 
that city?" These two things would occur to 
him on his way to, or on his arrival at, the city of 
refuge ; and if he had had any doubt or uncertainty 
as to the one or the other, he would have been 
overwhelmed with confusion, perplexity, and dis- 
may. But he had no doubt ; he knew, he was cer- 
tain, he was quite sure, that if he got to the city 
of refuge the avenger could not touch him, that he 
would be as safe in the city as if he were in heaven. 
He also knew that if he got to that city, nnd 
should remain in it, all his wants would be supplied, 
every thing necessary for his accommodation and 
support would be provided for him. Thus he had 
consolation. Now, apply these two things as an 
illustration of the nature of the happiness of be- 
lieving in Christ. " There is no condemnation to 
them that are in Christ Jesus." "They that be- 
lieve enter into rest." " Who is he that shall lay 
any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God 
that justifieth." What is it you are afraid of? Is 
it the justice of God? I know the justice of God 
has the impenitent sinner by the throat, and says, 
u Pay me what thou owest!" But I know also 
that the hand of the penitent sinner lays hold on 
the hope set before him, and justice takes his hand 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



off. It must be so ; otherwise God were unright- 
eous in demanding two payments for one debt. 
"He that believes shall be saved." "There is no 
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." 
What are you afraid of? Is it of the fiery law? 
The law is not roaring after you if you have got 
into the city of refuge ; it is not uttering its tre- 
mendous maledictions against you if you have laid 
hold of the hope set before you. If you hear any 
thing at all of the demands of the law, it is the 
echoes of those demands dying away amid the bat- 
tlements of the city wail; for he to whom you 
have fled, and on whom you have laid hold, has 
"magnified the law and made it honorable." 
Then what is it you are afraid of? Is it of the 
roaring lion of hell? He is indeed "going about 
seeking whom he may devour:" but your faith in 
Christ is a shield wherewith you will quench the 
fiery darts of the wicked one. Then what is it 
you have to fear ? Is it death ? You may give 
up that fear along with all the other fears ; for 
Jesus, to whom you have come, on whom you have 
laid hold, has put down death, abolished it, and 
buried it in his own grave, and has brought life 
and immortality to light. That is consolation, 
but that is not the whole of it. I said that the 
consolation of the manslayer on reaching the city 
of refuse would also include an assurance that he 
should be provided for, while there, with every 
thing necessary for his accommodation and support. 
This answers to the other half — the happiness of 
believing in Christ— which consists in the infinite 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 187 



assurance that God has given the believer that he 
never shall want any manner of thing that is really 
good, and that he never shall be in inextricable 
danger. " The young lions do lack, and suffer 
nunger?" and well they may; "but they that 
seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." 
Can that man want water who lives on the brink 
of an everlasting spring? Can that man want 
light who lives in the center of an everlasting sun ? 
No more can you who are in Christ by the power 
of living faith want any thing really good ; for he 
to whom you have come, and on whom you have 
laid hold, is the great repository of all conceivable 
and inconceivable good, for " it hath pleased the 
Father that in him should all fullness dwell." 
This is happiness ; this is consolation. 

2. Now look at the grounds on which this con- 
solation rests. We have it, says the apostle, " by 
two immutable things, in which it was impossible 
for God to lie." What are these immutable things ? 
Where are they to be met with? We cannot 
write the word immutable on the rock, it is con- 
stantly wearing away: nor on the sun; the sun 
himself shall grow old and dull. But there are 
two immutable things : the word of promise, and 
the oath of God. These are called the "counsel 
of God," to intimate that his promise is the dec- 
laration of his counsel Promises very often are 
the result of any thing but counsel ; but the prom- 
ise of God is the counsel of God, the manifestation 
and publication of his counsel. You will observe 
the apostle refers to God's promise to Abraham 



1 88 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



And what did God say to Abraham? "Fear not 
Abraham, I am thy shield." What is a shield ? 
It is an instrument of defensive warfare, interposed 
between the body of the man and that of his 
antagonist, so that before the weapon can touch 
the man it must go through the shield that is be- 
fore him. Think of this thy security, O Christian, 
while thou dost lay hold on the hope set before 
thee. Before thy enemies can do thee real harm 
they must pierce through Omnipotence. God says, 
"I am thy shield." Perhaps yon ask what you 
have to do with the promise made to Abraham. 
Why, just as much as he had, at any rate. It is 
the design of the apostle in quoting it to show 
that if you have like precious faith with Abraham, 
you have also like precious promises. The prom- 
ises of God, what are they like ? Whereunto si] all 
I compare them? They are like so many silver 
cords let down from heaven, hanging out from the 
pavilion of infinite clemency — I had almost said, 
sent down from the heart of God itself — for the 
hand of faith to lay hold on. The promise of 
God is an immutable thing, and by that we have 
our consolation. But there is another ground of 
this happiness. What! Another? Another "im- 
mutable thing ? " Yes, another. Would you have 
thought it? iS T o, you would not. Yet there is 
another. What! another? Yes; another "im- 
mutable thing." What ! is not the promise of 
God enough? Is not the counsel of the inviolable 
Jehovah sufficient ? Yes ; enough for him, — quite 
enough for him, but not for you, you doubting 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 189 



Christian, you miserable Christian. God, knowing 
the million ills of human life, the million jealousies 
of the human heart, — knowing the backwardness 
of your mind, and the slowness of your heart to 
believe his own eternal word of promise, hath con- 
descended to superadd to that his solemn oath. 
O! that oath of God. "This is as the waters of 
Noah unto me ; for, as I have sworn that the 
waters of Noah shall no more fall upon the earth, 
so have I sworn that I will not be wrath with thee, 
nor rebuke thee. The mountains may depart, the 
hills may be removed, but my loving-kindness will 
I not take away from thee, O Jacob, saith the 
Lord." That oath of God, what is it? What can 
God swear by? Men swear by supreme authority, 
— superior authority, — a jurisprudence above the 
party swearing; but by what can God swear? 
" Because there was no greater, he sware by him- 
self." His word swore by his truth, — his truth 
swore by his faithfulness, — his faithfulness swore 
by his justice. He swore by himself. O! the 
condescension of God, the stooping of God ! This 
is a stretch of condescension beyond which I had 
almost said the goodness of God cannot go. What 
is that oath like ? Whereunto shall I compare it ? 
Is it not as if Jehovah was laying all the perfec- 
tions of his nature, — staking the very glory of the 
Godhead, — on the truth of his promise previously 
made? These are the two immutable things by 
w T hich we have our consolation. 

3. Let me mention the quality of this happiness. 
It is called in the text, a " strong consolation ; " a 



190 The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



consolation among the most solid and substantial, 
the most abundant and efficient; a consolation 
available for every exigency of life, for the solem- 
nity of death, for the crisis of the judgment day. 
How strong is this consolation? It is stronger 
than the afflictions of life. If, like Job, you are 
called to sit among ashes, and are borne down by 
grief and sorrow; yet, with this consolation, you 
will bless God. If, like the man who is believed 
to have written the words of the text, you had your 
feet made fast in stocks with prisoners ; yet, with 
this consolation, you would sing praises to God at 
midnight. What a powerful principle religion is ! 
It turns the dungeon into a gate of heaven, the 
place of stocks into a vestibule of glory. If, like 
the Hebrews, to whom the language was originally 
addressed, you were called to bear the spoiling of 
your goods for Christ's sake ; with this consolation, 
you would bear it joyfully. Soaring on the wings 
of grace, you may defy the power of affliction, 
calamity, sickness, and change. He, whose word 
of promise and solemn oath you have, has said he 
w T ili be with you "in six troubles; yea, in seven 
there shall no evil touch thee." Strong consola- 
tion ! How strong? Stronger than the dread of 
wrath. Ah ! there is no fear like the fear of hell- 
fire ; no dread like the dread of the wrath to come. 
Many a man has that fear who never said he had 
it; many a man's heart has that dread, who never 
told any Christian minister or any Christian friend 
of it. Now and then, when a man dies out of the 
city of refuge, feeling himself out of it, having the 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. igi 



command of language, and unable to repress his 
emotions, — now and then, in such a case, language 
escapes that tills the bystanders with alarm. I 
know how they get over it ; they say it is delirium. 
If it were not for the stupefying effect of medicine, 
or the still more stupefying effect of disease, such 
would be the terror of the man dying out of the 
city of refuge, and feeling himself out of it, that 
if he expressed his feelings, his language would be 
such that no wife, no sister, no mother, no apothe- 
cary, no physician could bear to be in the room or 
near him. O, what a mountain is gone when the 
fear of hell is gone ! O, what a load is removed 
from the human spirit when the dread of the wrath 
to come is removed ! And it is removed from the 
man who has fled for refuge to lay hold on the 
hope set before him. Strong consolation ! How 
strong ? It is not only stronger than all the afflic- 
tions of life, and stronger than the dread of the 
wrath to come, but stronger than the fear of death. 
Hear the proverb of Solomon. He says, " The 
wicked is driven away in his wickedness ; but the 
righteous hath hope in his death." Go and see 
the righteous die. Death has come in at the win- 
dow, laying his hand upon the heart, freezing up 
the life-blood of the fountain. Death is there, but 
Christ is there also. Death, the last enemy, is 
there; but Christ, the Lord of life and glory, is 
there too. Death is there as the servant ; Christ 
as the master. And now the soul of the believer 
takes its flight out of the body. I was going to 
say, that the flight of the soul of the believer out 



192 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



of the body into the arms of Christ is not in win- 
ter, when light is scarce, and when the road is 
rough and rugged, but it is upon the Sabbath day ; 
for, let a believer die on whichever day of the 
seven he may, his dying is to him a Sabbath, for 
on that day he enters into rest. U I heard a voice 
from heaven saying, Blessed are the dead that die 
in the Lord." Strong consolation ! How strong ? 
Stronger than all the terrors of the final judgment, 
than the desolations of universal nature. The sun 
that has shone so gloriously for thousands of years 
over our earth, and seas, and skies, will one day 
shine no more; and the moon, that has known the 
times of her rising and setting, and that with such 
mathematical precision and accuracy, will be turned 
into blood ; the stars will fall from their orbits as 
figs fall from the fig-tree when in seasons of tem- 
pest it is shaken with an untimely wind. Then the 
trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised. 
And where is the believer ? How does he appear ? 
Hearing in his grave the last tones, the death- 
sounds of the physical universe, the knell of the 
solar system — they are like music to him ; they 
fall on his ear as welcome as the sound of the 
evening bell to the weary laborer at the close of 
the day, telling him that the hour of labor and 
fatigue and anxiety is over and gone. He awakes, 
he dresses; he robes for the marriage supper of 
the Lamb; he comes out of his grave; he sees the 
great white throne, and Him that sits on it ; and 
he says, " Lo ! this is our God; we may rejoice 
and be glad in his salvation ; " and he goes up, and 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



193 



is forever with the Lord. Strong consolation! 
Do not imagine, however, that the consolation thus 
exists strong in the feeling of every Christian 
always. It is liable to fluctuation; it fluctuates 
from a thousand causes — from the state of the 
weather, from the force of temptation, and from 
many influences that affect either the body or the 
mind. But what I mean to say is this — that so 
long as the Christian has hold of the hope set be- 
fore him, the ground never gives way under his 
feet. And do not imagine, on the other hand, that 
I am an apologist for that low, stinted, dwarfish 
mode of religious joy so common among us. Why 
are you not happy, Christians? Why are yon not 
happy, Christian professor, when God has done so 
much to make you happy? Why should you be 
miserable? Why should you hang down your 
head like a bulrush, you miserable, you doubting 
Christian? I will tell you. You are like a man 
going through the hot sandy deserts of Arabia, 
the atmosphere of w T hich is like the atmosphere of 
red hot stones, his tongue cleaving to the roof of 
his mouth, his parched lips burning with fever; — 
there he goes trampling on the burning sands, and 
all the while he has in his hand a cup of cold, 
crystal water, but he never puts it to his lips. 
Why do not you drink? "Why art thou cast 
down, O my soul ? " Go and say, — " Ashamed of 
the infatuation of unbelief — ashamed of this mon- 
strosity, — I will expect the purity of my nature, 
triumph over the world, victory over the grave, con- 
quest over Satan, a glorious resurrection, and the 
13 



194 The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



life eternal of the world to come; I will expect it, 
and all through Him who loved me, died for me, 
and rose again for me, whose I am, and to whom 
I give myself now, to be his only, and his for- 
ever." That is the happiness resulting from faith 
in Christ. 

Now, before I close, let me change mv voice— 
let me alter my address. Are you all within the 
city of refuge? Have you entered that city? 
Have your eyes seen this salvation? Or are you 
dribbling life away in folly? Are you living in 
sin ? How goes this question with you ? I must 
say, I fear there are many in this assembly who 
are not within the city of refuge. Then, are you 
on the way to it? I must say, that I fear there 
are some here who are not even in the attitude of 
flight toward the city. My fellow-countrymen, my 
fellow-sinners, if you are not in the city, if you are 
not in the attitude of flight toward it, you are liv- 
ing in peril ; every moment the avenger is behind 
you. You say you do not hear the sound of his 
footsteps. No, you live in such a fever, with so 
little Bible reading, so little self-scrutiny, so little 
prayer. You live in a hurry, you live in a fever; 
and suffer me to tell you, whether you hear the 
sound of the footsteps of the avenger or not, he is 
behind you, he is following you; and if he over- 
take you before you reach the city, sinner, you are 
lost ! God Almighty save you ! You must be 
saved by flight. Why should you not flee? The 
gates are opened, the road is clear, the invitation 
is affectionate. Why should you not flee thither ? 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



195 



Many have done so. Manasseh, that infuriated 
ruffian and adulterer, fled thither; why may not 
you? Mary Magdalene, who had seven devils, 
fled thither; why may not you? Zaccheus, the 
publican, fled thither; why may not you? Thou- 
sands upon thousands of the guiltiest of the guilty, 
and myriads upon myriads of the vilest of the vile, 
have fled thither, and have all found a rock for the 
trembling foot, and a canopy for the guilty head, — ■ 
and yet there is room. Fly, sinner, fly ! Make 
haste ! Are you not ready to come to Christ ? 
The Bible is ready, the Gospel is ready, the Sav- 
iour is ready, salvation is ready, are not you? 
Death is ready to seize you, judgment to over- 
whelm you, eternity to embrace you. Don't, don't 
go about to seek for a righteousness your own. 
You might as well try to get a river up a mount- 
ain-side, or attempt to walk the starry firmament 
of heaven with your clay feet, as to make a right- 
eousness of your own. Look this way. Christ, 
Christ is the hope set before you. " Other foun- 
dation can no man lay than that which is laid, 
Jesus Christ." "Neither is there given under 
heaven a name among men whereby we may be 
saved," but the name of Christ. Cannot you come 
to Christ? You may come to him now, before 
you go home, before you leave your seat. 

"Come all the world; come, sinner, thou, 
All things to Christ are ready now." 

Have you come? Have you got to the city? 
Christ meets you at the gates, and he says to you 



196 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



just what David said to Abiathar, " Abide thou 
with me, fear not: for he that seeketh my life 
seeketh thy life: but with me thou shalt be in 
safeguard." 

Instead of addressing you longer, I suppose I 
ought rather now to thank you for having listened 
so long as you have done with so much attention. 
I have brought nothing new to your ears ; and yet 
I have brought something new, for the Gospel is 
always new; it is never old and never cold; its 
doctrines never grow antiquated, its principles 
never shrivel up, its facts never decay and col- 
lapse; they are as fresh to-day as they were a 
thousand years ago, and they will be as fresh a 
thousand years hence as they are to-day. The 
glory of the Gospel is that, like its Author, it is 
" the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." I look 
upon this assembly with profound emotion. You 
are here from all provinces of the country ; and if 
you were the representatives of the whole world, 
I should have nothing else to say but what I have 
said to you. This is the Gospel for all mankind. 
Meet a man where I will, meet him in Exeter Hall, 
meet him in the so-called church or chapel, meet 
him as a beggar on the way-side, meet him as an 
advocate pleading before a judge, meet him in the 
capacity of a judge seated on the bench, meet him 
on the throne of a monarch — meet him where I 
will, and as I will, in whatsoever condition or 
phase, in whatever meridian of longitude or line 
of latitude, this one Gospel is the thing for him. 
There are not two Gospels ; there are not two Sav- 



The Wesley an Demosthe7ies. 197 



iours; there are not two ways of salvation : this is 
the Saviour — this the way of salvation. 

I must say that I think some place like this 
should have been thrown open into which those 
who have come up to the capital from the prov- 
inces can meet together for worship. You see 
each other, you come together, the law of sympa- 
thy takes effect, brotherhood prevails, fraterniza- 
tion is felt, and you clasp your arms together 
around the Gospel. This is the very thing you 
want. Does music suit the ear, entering into the 
cavity, flowing along the channels reaching to the 
brain, and acting thence upon the soul? — does 
music fit the ear? Does light fit the eye — coming 
off from the body of the sun, passing over objects 
in its way, entering the eye, acting through the 
brain upon the soul ? How beautifully the light 
fits the eye! Does the key fit the lock, turning 
its wards, shooting its bolts, and removing all ob- 
structions ? Music does not fit the ear, the light 
does not fit the eye, the key does not fit the lock, 
so well as the Gospel fits the sinner. All the hol- 
lows in him are filled with the prominences of the 
Gospel. I have preached the Gospel to you — at 
least, I trust I have — at least, 1 believe I have — at 
least, I feel I have. I hand it over to you ; and I 
trust I shall find it again, in a blade of repentance 
here, a stalk of faith there, and a ripe sheaf of 
holiness up yonder. May God bless his word \ 
Amen. 



198 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



VI. 

THY KINGDOM COME. 

" Thy kingdom come." — Matthew vi, 10. 

Man is a selfish being since his fall. So much 
does selfishness cleave to human nature, that many- 
philosophers have affirmed that every human ac- 
tion is the product of self love. This principle is 
so inwoven with our nature, so entwined with the 
very essence of our being, that it can only be sub- 
verted by a principle mightier than itself; and no 
principle mightier than itself has ever been found, 
except the principle that the Gospel makes known, 
the principle of love — love to God, love to Christ. 
The Gospel is the antidote to selfishness ; its doc- 
trines are all against selfishness, its facts are all 
opposed to selfishness, its precepts are all antag- 
onists to selfishness, its very prayers are all op- 
posed to selfishness. This prayer — the Lord's 
prayer, the child's prayer, the man's prayer, the 
morning prayer, the evening prayer — enjoins be- 
nevolence of the highest order. 

"After this manner," Christ said to his disci- 
ples — " After this manner, pray ye : Our Father 
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy 
kingdom come. Thv will be done on earth as it 
is in heaven . . . For thine is the kingdom, the pow- 
er, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.' 5 This 
prayer, no doubt, was intended to be used fre- 
quently as bform of prayer ; but, perhaps, it was 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 199 



still more designed to be the example of our pray- 
ers—to be a model after which our prayers are to 
be formed and fashioned— to teach us the subjects 
of prayer— to teach us the order of arrangement 
among the subjects of prayer. 

This prayer is like seed ; which seed, when 
sown, yields thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold: so 
this prayer has in it the seeds of all devotion, 
which are to germinate in our minds and hearts. 
And from this summary of prayer we are to gather 
the materials of our devotion, and the order in 
which to express our wishes. To change the fig- 
ure, this prayer is like Aaron's rod, which, when 
it was laid up all night, became fruitful, and in the 
morning was covered with buds and blossoms, and 
had brought forth abundantly : so this prayer, 
laid up in the mind, then living in the heart, acted 
upon by the influence of the Holy Ghost, buds 
and blossoms, and brings forth abundant' y. 

What a difference there is between the man that 
prays and the man that never prays— between the 
infidel and the believer ! The infidel would environ, 
and smother, and crush what we call, what we 
believe, what we feel to be the truth. Y^jfljae 
accuses us by our folly, our fanaticism, and our 
enthusiasm, of turning the world upside down. 
He scoffs, and raves, and ridicules oar grand, be- 
nevolent, majestic, heaven-planned enterprise. Hut 
how is it with the Christian, with the believer, 
with him to whom the kingdom of God has come 
with power? He longs for tne diffusion of it; he 
prays that this kingdom may stretch far and wide* 



200 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



Looking beyond him, and around him, he sees the 
darkness extending in every direction, having upon 
it all manner of abominable marks of cruelty, 
licentiousness, falsehood, and misery ; and having 
his own spiritual substance, his own moral nature, 
touched, thrilled, warmed, dilated, ennobled by the 
Gospel, he longs and labors for its propagation 
upon earth. 

No man liveth to himself. The worldling — 
there he is, vegetating upon the earth, a libel upon 
the reformed and opened front which he wears ; 
there he is, absorbing every thing, distributing 
nothing — imbibing every thing, dispensing noth- 
ing; and, as it has been well said, greedy as the 
sea, but barren as the shore. But the Christian 
is one of the multitude; he loves himself with the 
brotherhood, the neighborhood of mankind ; he 
feels himself one of the thousands about him, one 
of the millions of the species, and he longs for the 
universal circulation of that light, truth, and joy- 
ful sound with which himself has been favored : 
in short, he adopts the prayer which is before us ; 
and when his feelings are most powerfully excited, 
and his sympathies most thoroughly stirred, then 
with his joyous feelings agitated, there is no pray- 
er to which he is wont to partake himself more 
generally or more earnestly than to this prayer. 
The foulest forms of human woe excite his warm- 
est sjmpathy; they fill his soul with mournful 
cries, and draw out all his heart in prayer. And 
in what prayer oftener or more earnestly than the 
prayer of the text ? " Our Father which art in 



The Wesleya?i Demosthenes. 201 



Leaven, thy kingdom come : for thine is the king- 
dom, the power, and the glory." 

Our remarks shall turn, first, on the kingdom 
itself here referred to : " Thy kingdom." Second- 
ly, on some of the many grounds on which the 
pious mind may look and pray for its coming and 
glory. And then, thirdly, if time shall permit, 
w^e may notice some of the encouragements pecul- 
iar to the moments in which we are living and 
acting, to excite the Christian Church to employ- 
ing this prayer with more than ordinary zeal and 
love. And may the Hearer of prayer assist us 
with the Spirit ! 

I. The Kingdom itself, — the kingdom of God : 
a kingdom of which we should have known noth- 
ing but for revelation ; but of which now that 
revelation has made us acquainted with it, we feel 
as though we could never know enough. 

The phrase " kingdom of God,™ is like some 
other New Testament phrases, employed with 
some variety of signification — all the varieties, 
however, having a common relation. Sometimes 
the expression, " kingdom of God," imp'ies the 
subjects of Christ's scepter, the aggregate, the 
multitude of the "called, and faithful, and chosen," 
— that part of them that are on earth. And then 
it is called the kingdom of Christ in the world; 
and, at other times, that part which has arrived 
already in heaven — and then it is called the king- 
dom of glory. Sometimes the expression intimates 
the unearthly genius or constitution of Christian- 
ity ; as where the Saviour says, "My kingdom is 



202 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



not of this world." At other times the expres- 
sion implies the privileges, and endowments, and 
enjoyments experienced and exemplified under the 
administration of Messias : as, " The kingdom of 
God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and 
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." At other 
times it implies the simple Gospel message, the 
announcement of revea'ed truth — the dispensation, 
the promulgation of the Gospel itself: as, where it 
is said, "The kingdom of God shall be taken from 
you, and given to a nation bringing forth the 
Iruits thereof." 

In the passage before us we are to understand 
that dominion, that holy dominion, which God is 
setting up in the human heart, in the human 
world, in and by the Messias; a kingdom of which 
all time, since its early dawn, hath been the dura- 
tion, of which mankind are the subjects, of which 
salvation is the object, of which the glory uf the 
Triune God is the final end. 

1. This kingdom is not a icorldly kingdom; 
and yet the Jews, among whom the Saviour dwelt 
when he was manifest in the flesh, expected such 
a kingdom at the hands of the Messias; and the 
apostles themselves were not free from this mis- 
leading master delusion. And it was a fond dream, 
a fascinating delusion, a beautiful speculation, an 
intoxicating notion, which enwrapped the minds 
of the Jews, and infected the apostles themselves 
previous to the clay of Pentecost ; the idea that 
the Jewish people were to be restored to their 
secular political rank; the thought of the recovery 



T/ie Wesley an Demosthenes. 



203 



of the nation's sunken renown, of the reclamation 
of her forfeited distinctions, the idea of the evap- 
oration of the sad clouds that covered the beauty 
of the daughter of Zion — of enthroning, robing, 
and adorning her, and making her again to sit as 
a queen among the nations. But Christ said, 
"My kingdom is not of this world." Other ob- 
jects brought down the Son of God from heaven 
to earth than the establishment of secular domina- 
tion. He looked down on our world ; he saw 
prejudice tyrannizing over reason, the passions 
predominating over the intellect ! lie saw con- 
science condemning man i he saw man covered 
with the leprosy of moral pollution ! he saw Di- 
vine vengeance pursuing him ! he saw hell open- 
ing to swallow him up ! he saw heaven closing 
over man ! he saw, he tied, he came to our relief! 
forth he came from the bosom of the Father, to 
make passion yield 10 reason, darkness to light, 
falsehood to truth, ail to grace; he came to calm 
conscience, to disarm the vengeance of heaven, to 
swallow up death in victory, to close the mouth 
of the infernal abyss, to open the kingdom of 
heaven to all believers. That was his mission. 

When God said at tirst, "Let there be light," 
and there was light, the substance brought in ihat 
manner into such splendid existence was not 
arrayed with any attributes either in harmony 
with the purposes of the Creator, or with any in 
opposition to them. But, when the soul of man 
had to be renewed, had to be redeemed, when it 
had to be saved — for, remember that every soul 



204 The Wcsieyan Demosthenes. 



of man, by reason of the original apostasy, every 
soul of man might well say, " Help, Lord, else I 
perish," — and it was to prevent that catastrophe 
of this perishing of the soul of man that Christ 
came from the bosom of the Father. And God is 
now directing his creating work anew to the soul. 
His creating work as to matter ceased at the end 
of the sixth day ; but he has renewed his creating 
acts, anil applies them to the soul of man ; he is 
forming it anew, and adorning it with the beauty 
of holiness. 

2. This kingdom is constituted in the person of 
the King himself The crucifixion of his person 
is the redemption of the world. Into the mystery 
of the Godhead there had to be inwoven that 
mystery of mysteries, God manifest in the flesh. 
O ! thou didst not despise the Virgin's womb, nor 
the form of a servant, nor the fashion of a man, 
nor the likeuess of a sinner! Thou didst over- 
come the sharpness of death, and so didst open 
the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Christ 
was first a Saviour, then a Conqueror. "He hum- 
bled himself unto death, even the death of the 
cross; wherefore God also hath highly exalted 
him, and given him a name which is above every 
name: that at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, of things in heaven, and of things in 
earth, and things under the earth." Christ, by 
his sacrificial death, has appeased the justice of 
God, magnified the law, and secured a revenue,, 
an eternally- accumulating revenue of honor to the 
government and character of God. Christ, like 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 205 



others, has waded to his empire through blood; 
but he has waded to his empire through no blood 
but the blood of his own heart. He fell himself 
to exalt us. Worthy, indeed, is he to be the com- 
mander of the armies of the living God, and lead 
them on from conquering to conquer. 

3. This kingdom is a peaceable kingdom : it is a 
beneficent institution. Its attributes are righteous- 
ness, peace, benevolence, integrity, purity, justice, 
charity. 0, if I were to set before you the work- 
ings of a guilty conscience, through all its com- 
plex operations, onward to judicial blindness or 
despair; could I anatomize before you the cor- 
ruptions and deceitfulness of the human heart, 
thickening and blackening onward and onward 
through all but interminable regions of atrocity : 
could I show up before you the remorse that will 
fasten on the sinner standing before the tribunal 
of God, when he has heard the final sentence of 
banishment from the presence of God and the 
glory of his power : could I represent to you the 
gn a wings of the worm that is never to be shaken 
off, and the pungency of the fire that will never 
be quenched ; then, I think, you would agree with 
ine, that the name of Jesus— that name which 
"charms our guilty souls," that name which is 
"like ointment poured forth," — that that name is, 
indeed, Ci above every name." 

It does not merely charm guilt away, but it 
charms sin away. I am speaking to those who 
are the subjects of the kingdom of Christ, You 
know what you have felt when you were in a 



206 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



state of transition, passing from darkness to light, 
coming over from the enemy of God and right- 
eousness to the dominion of Immanuel ; you know 
the bitter anguish, the repentance, the emotion, 
the godly sorrow; and you know what the peace 
is, what the joy is, and what the hope is, which 
are felt in the service of Christ — a peace which 
passeth all understanding, a joy which has in it 
immeasurable fullness, a hope which fixes its long- 
ing and delighted eve on the tree of life that 
grows in the midst of the paradise of God. 

But we ought not to overlook the subsidiary 
and the collateral blessings which flow from the 
kingdom of God, even in this world. Wherever 
Christianity prevails — wherever it takes hold of 
mankind, it effects vast changes in their social 
condition; it subdues many forms of savage bar- 
barity; it mitigates the ferocity of war, it vastly 
ameliorates the system of laws, (if, indeed, it finds 
any system of laws at all,) it medicates the waters 
of bitterness, it softens the waters of strife. 

How beautifully Isaiah represents the effects of 
the reign of Christ ! He borrows images both 
from the vegetable and the animal kingdom. 
Take the vegetable first, which you were reading 
just now in the fifty-fifth chapter of his prophe- 
cies. What a primitive preacher said of St. Paul, 
we say of Isaiah : it was said of Paul, by a primi- 
tive teacher of Christianity, that he was the cloud 
of God ; meaning thereby, I suppose, that he was 
the cloud whence God rolled his thunder and 
darted his lightning. What was said of Paul in 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 207 



the New Testament may be well said of Isaiah in 
the Old Testament : he is the cloud of God, whence 
God radiates his lightning and hurls his thunder. 
Hear one of the beautiful bursting outbreaks of 
this great prophet of the Highest; you were read- 
ing it a few minutes ago : Ct For ye shall go out 
with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mount- 
ains and the hills shall break forth before you 
into singing, and all the trees of the field shall 
clap their hands. Instead of the thorn," — stand 
by that thorn ; observe its unsightliness, look at 
its prickles, count their number, examine the leaf; 
stand by that thorn, and while you stand by, it 
undergoes a transformation; its unsightly leaf 
is changed for one of beauteous aspect; and 
while you are gazing on the thorn, it stands be- 
fore you as a stately, majestic fir-tree : i; Instead 
of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree; and in- 
stead of the briers,"— stand by that brier, that 
bramble, that noxious, that unwelcome, that un- 
sightly arrangement : stand by that brier, and as 
you stand by it undergoes a complete change ; 
instead of the brier, there comes up the beautiful, 
sweet-scented, elegant myrtle tree. "Instead of 
the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of 
the brier shall come up the myrtle tree : and it 
shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting 
sign that shall not be cut olf." 

Take the other figure borrowed from the animal 
kingdom, not less powerful than the other : " And 
righteousness" — speaking of the Messiah — "And 
righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and 



2o8 The VVesleyan Demosthenes. 



faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also 
shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall 
lie down with the kid : and the calf, and the voiin^ 
lion, and the fatling together: and a little child 
shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall 
feed; their young ones shall lie down together: 
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the 
suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, 
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the 
cockatrice's den." O, what forms of lovely beauty ! 
See that flock of sheep grazing in quietude. Look ! 
the lion is coming up from the forest ; lightnings 
flash from his eyeballs, and awful thunder rolls 
from his lips. He dashes on to the fold, and plants 
his feet upon the fence. He halts. See the lion 
arrested ; see the stream, the halitus rising up from 
him — the ferocity exuding, the savageness passing 
off, the cruelty escaping from the lion. And now 
that he is changed, he takes down his paw, walks 
into the fold, and feeds with the lamb and the 
flock! See the young lion and the calf fastened 
together by a silken thread, and. a little child lead- 
ing them ! 

Such are the beautiful representations given by 
the prophet of the beneficent spirit of the reign of 
Christ. To those who will turn round and say 
this is figure, we reply, that it may be figure ; very 
likely it is figure; but the figure is so much the 
fact that you must take off' a very little per cent- 
age on the ground of its being figure. But I am 
not sure, I am not quite sure that it is simply and 
exclusively figure. It is undoubtedly so in one 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 209 



sense: it is obvious that the most savage and 
ferocious natures are changed under the dominion 
of Christ ; and that " righteousness," quoting the 
words which we have already referred to — that 
"righteousness, peace, and joy," are its character- 
istic features. 

4. This kingdom, my friends, admits of un- 
limited extension, of indefinite diffusion. In fact, 
the successes of David and Solomon in the pros- 
perous eras of the Jewish history, the very lodg- 
ment and boundaries of the holy land, were typic- 
al of the extension of the kingdom of Christ un- 
der its full dispensation. This kingdom shall 
spread and grow ; it shall go out in this direction, 
and go forth in that; it shall traverse that region, 
and pass over the other; it shall go from sea to sea, 
and from the rivers to the ends of the earth : men 
shall be blessed in Christ — all nations shall call 
him blessed. I did not quite finish the quotation 
from Isaiah — I must refer you to the whole chapter 
at your leisure — bub the prophet goes on to say, 
"The earth shall be full." Full! What is the 
meaning of full? "The earth shall be full:' 
What! full? Yes, full! that is the word, — 
" The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the 
Lord, as the waters cover the sea." The gloom ot 
the American woods and waters breaks up ; and 
now there comes flowing back across the Atlantic 
the halleluias which they breathe forth from this 
our island of the sea ; and those uncounted hordes, 
in those wilds, and snows, and fastnesses, begin 
to feel the direct ray of the Sun of Righteous- 
14 



2io The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



ness. And Africa's numerous degraded tribes and 
throngs, touched by the cross, live and are free. 
And Persia emerges from her long sad night into 
the illumination of the Sun of Righteousness. 
And India, with her teeming population, crowds 
around the feet of our Immanuel, pouring out there 
her gifts — gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. 
And China, with her unnumbered immortal beings, 
feels the cross the central place of bliss ; and that 
great, proud, adamantine wall, which has main- 
tained a -olid front so long that it has acquired 
the name of impregnable — that great wall, sur- 
rounded by the rams' horns, tumbles down, as did 
the walls of Jericho when they were surrounded 
by the rams' horns blown by the priests : down 
comes the wall of China, in goes the ark of the 
Lord, and it rolls over that immense territory of 
paganism, turning it into the garden of the Lord. 
Like a triumphant general, pushing first his con- 
quest in this direction, and then in that ; first, one 
class of the people comes in, and then another 
throws down their arms, and then another swe^p 
of the territory catches the contagion of submis- 
sion; and thus it goes on, for I don't know which 
way the coming of the kingdom of Christ that is 
to be; it is like lightning — no man can reguiate 
the current, or determine the motion ; like light- 
ning, glancing from east to west, the coming of 
the kingdom of Christ shall be. 

"The dark American He shall convert, 
And shine in every pagan's heart." 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



211 



But that does not exhaust the triumphs of our 
Immanuel. No; there is included another de- 
scription of people altogether, and, I must say, a 
still more interesting description of people. Turn 
your eyes over the planet, on each region, soil, and 
clime ; and wherever you direct your vision, there 
meet you the decayed, sapless, withered, shrunken, 
shriveled branches of the stock of Israel. There 
they lie scattered, dissociated, all in desolation. 
Who can look at the state of the Jews and not 
feel for them? The history of the Jews is one of 
the most amazing demonstrations of the truth of 
the Bible. Their history, connected with the 
Scriptures, furnishes the most unlettered and the 
most unsifted amonof us with weapons of irresisti- 
ble temper, wherewith we may overmaster the 
stoutest enemy of revelation. When the kingdom 
of God is fully grown to its proper dimensions, it 
sh;ili inclose within it the seed of Abraham : or, 
to change its figure, the condition of the Jews is 
like that of metal in a furnace; there is still 
much dross with them ; they are lying in the fur- 
nace, but they are destined to come out of the 
furnace like gold, yea, like fine gold, to adorn the 
temple of our God. Christ shall have the whole 
earth; and Jew and Gentile, bond and free, black 
and white, east and west, north and south — the 
whole earth shall be full of the knowledge of the 
glory of the Lord. 

5. This kingdom of Christ will be of long dura- 
Hon: not like earthly kingdoms, which rise up, 
run forward, gain the zenith, and then decline. 



212 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



and their names pass away, and their memory is 
blotted out ; not like these shall be the kingdom 
of Christ. This kingdom " lasts ; like the sun it 
shall stand." I am not going to enter upon the 
dispute about the thousand years, as the duration? 
the term of the duration, of the prosperous reign 
of our Messiah on earth. I am aware of the differ- 
ence of opinion as to the meaning of the thousand 
years. I am not going to take on myself to de- 
liver any opinion as to whether the thousand years 
are to be understood literally — naturally, that is — 
that is, as so many solar years ; or whether they 
are to be understood prophetically, after the mode 
of reckoning specified by Daniel in the Old Testa- 
ment, when he marks the duration of Antichrist. 
There is this peculiarity to be observed, that the 
only writer in the New Testament who mentions 
the thousand years is John. John, in the New 
Testament, answers to Daniel in the Old Testa- 
ment. Daniel in his prediction mentions the 
length of the duration of Antichrist : he gives us 
the years ; he tells us each day is to be taken for a 
year. There may not, therefore, be any thing ex- 
actly heretical in supposing that John, who is the 
Daniel of the New Testament, when he mentions 
one thousand years as the duration of the day of 
Christ, means years prophetically considered. I 
confess that, to my own mind, much difficulty at- 
tends either the one or the other mode of interpre- 
tation. If you take the literal mode of interpreta- 
tion, then the number of years assigned for the 
duration of the prosperous reign of Christ is too 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 213 



small to agree with what many Scriptures speak 
concerning the lengthened reign of Immanuel in 
his high estate on earth. The reign of Christ is 
contrasted, yon will observe, with the duration of 
the great monarchies ; it is expressly affirmed, that 
Christ's reign shall be longer than that of the great 
monarchies. Now, we know, that putting the 
great monarchies together, their duration was, at 
least, three thousand years; therefore, if we take 
the literal interpretation of the thousand years, 
that does not seem to harmonize with what such 
passages affirm. If we take the other interpreta- 
tion, taking each day of the thousand years for a 
year, and then arrive at three hundred and sixty- 
thousand years, that is most staggering to our 
faculties, overpowering to our intellect, confound- 
ing to our perceptions. We forget, that with the 
Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thou- 
sand years as one day. For my own part, I de- 
cline be*ng fettered either by the one interpreta- 
tion or the other: I take, rather, the general sum- 
mary representation of the entire volume — namely, 
that "she reign of Christ on the earth will be of 
vast extent; and, in one sense, that the reign of 
Christ will have no end. 

There is a beautiful passage in the fifteenth 
chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians — a 
passage " dark with excess of light," which touches 
this point : I mean the passage which says, " Then 
cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up 
the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he 
shall have put down all rule, and all authority 



214 



The Wesley a ji Demosthenes, 



and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all 
enemies under his feet. . . . But when he saith, All 
things are put under him, it is manifest that he is 
excepted, which did put all things under him. 
And when all things shall be subdued unto him, 
then shall the Son also himself be subject unto 
him that put all things under him, that God may- 
be all in all." 

Now, some from this magnificent passage infer, 
that Avhen the work of Christ in relation to our 
world is finally accomplished, he will return to the 
state in which he was previous to his entering upon 
the accomplishment of the great work. We sup- 
pose the passage warrants no such conclusion. 
Undoubtedly, when Christ shall have finished his 
mediatorial dominion, when he shall have reclaimed 
the earth, and when the unyielding part shall be 
shut up; the part that will neither be swayed 
by mercy, solicited by love, thrilled by tenderness, 
nor subdued by any thing — when they are closed 
up, and shut up, and the whole reclaimed part is 
brought back to God even the Father, then Christ 
shall give up the kingdom; and, like the son of a 
king who has been sent out from his father's court, 
with a large comiuission, to quell a rebellion which 
had broken out in some distant quarter, and when 
he has accomplished the work 3 comes back to his 
fathers court, gives up his robes of royalty, but 
reigns with his father: so Jesus Christ shall de- 
liver up, bring back, the kingdom in its finished, 
completed state, to God even the Father, and God 
shall be all in all Only the eternal Son will reign 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 215 



with the eternal Father: the human nature of the 
eternal Son, as the instrument by which the 
dominion was set up, by which the conquest was 
won, by which the triumphs were gained, the 
human nature of Christ will shine out with a dis- 
tinct and separate glory for ever and ever. 

6. This leads me to observe, lastly, that the 
brightness of this kingdom is perpetually increas- 
ing. O, I rejoice to think — I think it, I believe it 
— that there is not an hour in any day in which 
some straggling rebel is not coming unto Christ, 
kissing his scepter, and devoting himself to his 
service. The number of Christ's subjects is con- 
tinually increasing. There is already a multitude 
before the throne that can never be withdrawn ; 
and the successes that are going on upon earth are 
swelling that continually- accumulating amount of 
the first-born that is in heaven. Now the Gospel 
represents each dispensation of God as brighter than 
the one before it, and the latter part of any dispen- 
sation as brighter than the former part of it : the 
light of the moon is to become as the light of the sun, 
and the light of the sun as the light of seven suns. 

I am not going to dispute now, whether or no^ 
in the glorious season of the reign of Christ, he 
will descend on earth in person, as some have 
imagined that he will. But, I may be allowed to 
say, that that point is begirt with a thousand diffi- 
culties, surrounded with a rampart, a barrier of 
immense obstacles, which do not at the moment 
seem to strike some of those who so readily imbibe 
the sentiment. For our part, if we were to sup- 



2i6 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



pose that Christ was to come down and reign on 
earth in person during the prosperous period of 
his administration among our fellow-men, I should 
come to the conclusion that a large part of the 
New Testament must be superseded. The New 
Testament is constructed, from beginning to end, 
on the supposition that Christ's bodily presence is 
in heaven, and not on earth. A large part of the 
institutions of the Christian religion must be super- 
seded on the supposition that Christ comes to reign 
on earth in person ; and if he were to come and 
reign in person, only imagine whether there would 
not be a repetition of the same unseemly scenes 
which attended him at his first advent. There was 
a strife among his disciples which should be the 
nearest to his person, which should be chief in his 
kingdom. Only imagine that there was some 
locality on earth where Christ was in his personal 
glory : would not all that were at a distance from 
that locality feel extremely uneasy? Would not 
the whole earth be setting in to the one point ? Is 
it imaginable that any Christian could know that 
his blessed Lord and Master was on earth, and rest 
and be quiet without going, attempting to go, and 
behold his personal glory ? I, therefore, merely 
say that the notion is beset with a vast multitude 
of difficulties, and to support what we have said 
about the growing brightness of the kingdom of 
Christ, it is not necessary to suppo-e any such 
thing. I think, when by the diffusion of the Word 
of God, and by the efflux, the influx, the down- 
coming of the Divine Spirit of God — when, by the 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 217 



translation and circulation of the Word of God, so 
that every inhabitant of our race shall have a copy 
— when, by the communication of the Spirit of 
God, which Spirit shall come down on ten thou- 
sand ministers, and enlarge the hearts of a hun- 
dred thousand Christians in a moment — when the 
Word of God is every- where, and the Spirit of 
God is every-where — when falsehood is nowhere, 
and truth every-where — when darkness is nowhere, 
and light every-where — when vice is nowhere, and 
virtue every-where — that is glory enough for us ; 
we leave the rest to heaven. 

Such, then, is the kingdom about which we are 
taught to pray in the text. 

II. On the second part of the subject I shall, of 
course, endeavor to be very brief. It is to point 

OUt SOME GROUNDS ON WHICH THE PIOUS MAY 
LOOK AND PRAY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF THIS KING- 
DOM — some of the grounds on which they may ex- 
pect its UNIVERSAL DIFFUSION. 

1. We are warranted in such an expectation, I 
may say, almost from analogy. Why does the 
moon spread her horns? Why, it is to fill them. 
Why does the sun rise above the horizon ? It is 
that he may go on his march upward and onward, 
till he gains his meridian altitude, and pours his 
vertical glory on the world below. Why is the 
corn deposited in the soil ? It is that it may un- 
wrap, that it may unfold itself — that of that single 
seed there may come a tree, the branches of which 
are for a lodgment of the birds, and a shadow for 
the beasts of the earth. Why does the rill steal 



218 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



silently from under the sod, wend its way among 
the grass and the pebbles, following its course on- 
ward and onward, enlarging its channel, rendering 
the fissure wider and wider for itself — till at last 
that little rill becomes a mighty river, bearing on 
its bosom the riches of a nation, and feeding with 
its irrigations a nation's agriculture? When shall 
the kingdom of Christ have no boundaries? Shall 
it always be in a state of minority? Shall Satan 
usurp all ? Why, it is impossible that it should 
remain so ? Christ must rejgn. Take it in the vig- 
orous language of the apostle, in that passage in 
his first Epistle to the Corinthians which I have just 
now read in your hearing : " He must reign till he 
hath put all his enemies under his feet." Why, if 
you consider Christianity as it was eighteen hun- 
dred years ago, and compare its state then with its 
state now ; you must arrive at the conclusion that 
there is not so great a difference between the state 
it has actually attained now, and the state to which 
we are looking forward when it shall be universal 
— there is not so great a difference between its 
condition at first, and the condition at which it has 
actually arrived now; and as Christianity has al- 
ready prevailed so far, as it has overcome so 
much idolatry, melted away so many abominations, 
broken the spell of so many diabolical charms, as 
it has done — unless it be smitten with a paralysis, 
unless it cease to have the care of Jehovah — it 
must, in the nature of things, go on till it has sub- 
dued the whole earth, and men everv-where ac- 
knowledge the supremacy of Jesus Christ, 



The Wesley an Demosthenes* 219 



2. We are led to the same conclusion from the 
symbolical events of Jewish history. I can here 
merely touch on some of those events. 

Look for a moment, then, at Egypt, and see the 
contest that went on between Moses and Aaron 
and the magicians of Egypt. It was a contest be- 
tween the true religion and a false religion, and 
every miracle that was wrought by Moses struck 
at the root of some popular idolatry. Did the 
Egyptians worship the sun? They did. Moses 
stretched forth his hand, and there was darkness at 
high noon all over the land. Did the Egyptians 
worship the air? Did they worship fire? Did 
they worship the elements, the principles of nature? 
They did. Moses lifted up his hand, and the earth 
swarmed with lice. Did they worship the river 
Nile ? They did. Moses lifted up his hand, and 
the Nile was choked with frogs. And so, if the 
time did allow, I could show that every evolution 
of the arm of Moses struck at some idolatry pre- 
vailing among the Egyptians. And you know 
the contest waxed hotter and hotter ; for awhile 
the magicians seemed to prevail, but at last the 
magicians cried out, u We are conquered ; we 
are mastered ; we are beaten ; this is the finger 
of God : " and revelation won the day. And as 
surely as in that celebrated contest between the 
magicians and Moses, Moses was triumphant ; 
so in the contest between light and darkness, 
between truth and falsehood, between revelation 
and idolatry-— light, truth, and revelation shall win 
the day t 



220 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



I might refer you to several other such sublime 
events : as. for instance, the contest carried on at 
the top of Mount Carmel, between Elijah and some 
hundreds of the representatives of Moabitish idol- 
atry. How very unequal the contest at first ap- 
peared ! Your own recollections will supply you 
with the whole of that contest, and the grand tri- 
umph in which it issued: Elijah was victorious, 
true religion won the day, and idolatry was van- 
quished on the top of the hill. 

So with respect to Dagon and the ark of the 
Lord. The idol being brought into juxtaposition 
with the ark of God, the ark retained its place ; but 
the idol fell down prostrate, and was broken in 
pieces. And so, surely, every other idol shall be 
prostrated before our Immanuel. 

Passing from individual cases, take the general 
case ; indeed, I have partly referred to this al- 
ready — I mean the contest about the land of 
Canaan. When the children of Israel took pos- 
session of that land, according to the promise of 
God to their fathers, there was some part of the 
land which did not submit to them; there was a 
hill fortified by the Jebusites, which stood out 
long after the other parts had come in — a long time 
after the lower land (so to speak) had acknowl- 
edged the sway of the Israelites. But in the time 
of David the Jebusites were conquered, that strong 
tower was taken; and to show the complete tri- 
umph of religion, Solomon built the temple on the 
crest of that mountain. And as surely as that last 
hill, that remaining fortress, was subdued, so surely 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 221 



the last stronghold of idolatry shall yield to the 
scepter of Christ, and the whole earth shall be 
filled with his glory. 

3. I might pass from this, and say, We are taught 
the same by all the figures and representations of the 
New Testament. This kingdom is spoken of as 
leaven ; the kingdom of God is likened to leaven 
which was hid in three measures of meal, and the 
whole became leavened. 

It is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which at 
the first is the smallest of all seeds, but which 
grows until it becomes the largest of trees. I 
might add other illustrations in the ISTew Testa- 
ment equally applicable, in the light they throw on 
this subject, with those referred to in the Old. But 
I pass this, and merely say that the whole line of 
Scripture, from beginning to end, warrants the ex- 
pectation now indulged by the Christian Church. 
There are many prophecies scattered over the 
firmament of revelation announcing the great 
truth; it is not one here and one there, but the 
stars of promise are so numerous in the firmament 
that they form a sort of galaxy, a kind of milky 
way, a stream of light passing through the w^hoie. 
We shield ourselves against all the doubts of the 
lukewarm, and all the objections of the infidel, and 
say, " Thus saith the LordP 

4. I might say that moral %)Toportion requires 
that the kingdom of God should become thus glo- 
rious. The providence of God effects great results 
by small means; but in this dispensation here are 
vast means employed. His eternal Son becomes 



222 The Wesleyan Demosthenes* 



clothed with our flesh ; he dies on Calvary. There 
is in this an immense employment of means, and 
moral proportion requires that the result shall be 
vastly majestic and expansive. Christ must see of 
the travail of his soul; and O, how millennially 
must his kingdom come, before his philanthropic 
heart shall say, " Enough ! enough ! that is all I 
look for; stop! stop! I shed my blood for no 
more.'" We know that " Jesus Christ by the grace 
of God tasted death for every man ; " and, having 
poured oat his soul as an offering for the whole 
race, vast, indeed, must be his triumphs before he 
can say, "Enough! that is all; that completes the 
whole." 

5. Finally, my brethren, when we think of the 
energy that is employed in the diffusion of this 
kingdom, our hopes arise, and our expectations 
rise. There are vast difficulties, we are told, 
which attend our enterprise. We are not ignorant 
of them. We are much obliged to infidels for call- 
ing our attention to them, but we have not over- 
looked them. They tell us there are physical diffi- 
culties, arising from the construction of the earth — 
there being four or five great continents, between 
these continents rolling vast oceans, these oceans 
being studded with thousands of islands, peopled 
with various descriptions of inhabitants, these in- 
habitants speaking different languages, and having 
different laws. We are aware of these difficulties. 
And then the infidel objector tells of political 
difficulties, (we are aware of them too,) arising from 
the different forms of government which prevail In 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 223 



the most thickly peopled portions of the globe, the 
many restrictions of commerce, and so on — the 
jealousy of the European influence, and the ex- 
treme reluctance to admit any thing coming from 
our quarter, thinking that no good can come to 
them from our land. We are aware of these polit- 
ical difficulties; and when infidels have swelled and 
enlarged the amount as much as they can, we have 
another class of difficulties, which are to our mind 
more serious than the physical difficulties or the 
political difficulties. I allude to the class of diffi- 
culties which are called moral difficulties, coming 
from the darkness of the understanding, the stu- 
pidity of the conscience, the depravity of the will, 
the corruption of the affections, arising from the 
sway which the devil has in the human heart. I 
put my moral difficulties alongside their physical 
difficulties and their political difficulties; and I 
lay all these difficulties tier on tier, alps on alps! 
Mountain on mountain they rise; but what are 
they all before the ail-conqnering Spirit of our 
God? The mountain shall become a valley; the 
hill shall be made low. He shall touch the mount- 
ains, and they shall melt away; he shall speak the 
word, and great shall be the company of them that 
publish it. The power of God put forth in the 
administration of his Spirit shall overcome all the 
difficulties that rise. 

I may just venture to say that my own opinion 
is just this: that if the Christian Church in En- 
gland, Ireland, Scotland, America, and the Conti- 
nent of Europe— if the whole Christian Church— 



224 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



were at this moment prepared with the apparatus, 
had ready the machinery, had ready the appointed 
means, it would "be found that the full time — the 
great ocean tide — of spiritual influence had come; 
the immense harvest would be shortly reaped ; God 
be glorified throughout the whole earth. 

III. Point out some of the encouraging inti- 
mations WHICH WE HAVE OF THE COMING OF THIS 

Kingdom of Christ — some of the special induce- 
ments whicli we have now to employ the prayer of 
our text, and to employ it with more than ordinary 
zeal and frequency. 

In the animal and the vegetable kingdoms, you 
know, there are some periods of the year in which 
the growth is more rapid, and visible, and palpable 
than at other periods. It is so in the kingdom of 
Christ; there are seasons in which it has rapidly 
extended itself. Such was the period of its intro- 
duction. Then the kingdom of heaven, as it is 
called to intimate its celestial and Divine origin — 
then the kingdom of heaven was indeed like a 
grain of mustard seed : the seed was cast into the 
earth, and soon became a great tree; and the 
whole of the then known world shortly reposed, in 
profession at least, under the shadow of it. And 
even in the dark ages that followed, when Satan 
appeared to have recovered by craft what he had 
lost in open conflict — even then there was a con- 
siderable number who were faithful to the death, 
and zealous in their Master's service. In the time 
of the Reformation the kingdom came, you know, 
with all-conquering force. The waters of life were 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 225 



confined within embankments; the billows began 
to heave and swell; and at last they broke down 
the barriers, and Europe was filled with knowledge 
and piety. 

We think we are arriving at another, a third, 
distinctive era in the history of the kingdom of 
Christ, in which it is coming. Could I detain you 
to put my finger on the marks or the signs of this 
I would do so. 

1. Look at the facilities which there are for it; 
there never were such facilities since the apostles' 
time. We have colonies, great flourishing colonies, 
all over the globe, which are so many focal points 
whence the light is to radiate in every direction 
beyond them. We have swift-winged messengers 
to carry our missionaries and our Bibles to more 
distaut lands ; and of all the ships that have left 
our shore, none surely have left it with more 
interest than that did which parted from the shore 
a few days ago, manned with missionaries, freight- 
ed with Bibles: a ship-load of instrumentality to 
put back the frontier of idolatry. We have mis- 
sionaries ; they are rising here and there, on this 
hand and that, and they are crying and saying, 
" Here are we ; send us far hence to the Gentiles." 
Now the war standard is taken down; now the 
blood-stained sword of battle is sheathed; and we 
have opportunities to unsheathe the bloodless sword 
of the Spirit. Now the highways are making all 
over the earth ; and there were never such facilities 
for the diffusion of the Gospel as at this moment. 
We are preparing the Roman roads ; we are throw- 
15 



226 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



ing up the Apennine way ; and the millennial car 
of our Imrnanuel shall roll over east, west, north, 
and south, and take possession of the uttermost 
parts of the earth. 

2. Besides the facilities for effort, there is, I 
think, rather more union of effort than there has 
been for ages, I am by no means a flatterer of 
myself or others on this subject. I do not think 
there is so much union of effort as there might be, 
nor so much as there ought to be, nor so much as 
there will be. But there is union of effort: all 
Christian Churches are shaking themselves from 
their inglorious slumber to behold the vast extent 
of infidelity, which, like a mighty weight, like a 
horrid incubus, is bestriding the human family : 
and the Gospel, like a great lever, is applied to 
that horrid mass; and I see every denomination of 
Christians stretching forth their hands to the lever, 
and setting the world free. And if Christian de- 
nominations on this subject strike a different chord, 
it is but as it were to produce harmony. There is 
no Christian Church that I know which has not 
its missionary agency, or station, or something or 
other of that description, except (may I mention 
it ? If I do, I am sure it is with the greatest re- 
spect for the respectable body whose name I don't 
know that I ought to avoid) — every Christian 
Church, I say, has now its missionary system, ex- 
cept that called the Friends; though I see them 
moving in this way and that way, contriving some- 
how or other to assist missionary projects: and 
though there is a ligature around themselves for 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



22/ 



the moment, a ligature about themselves from 
their own system, which hinders them from sup- 
porting such things openly out and out ; yet they 
are dropping in silently, here and there, their beau- 
tiful, mild, benevolent contributions. And I am 
sure it must come to this, that if there is a branch 
of the Christian Church which has not its mission- 
ary prayer-meeting, its missionary society, its mis- 
sionary collection, or its missionary something or 
other, I am afraid that, if it is a part of the Chris- 
tian at all, it is in danger of being dislocated, 
hanging on like a broken joint. Let it at once, 
then, become inoculated, freely and fully, with the 
missionary fire and feeling, and take its place with 
the grand army of the living God, which is going 
on to take possession of the earth in the name of 
the Lord. 

3. Then, again, I might say that the success of 
effort is also a most encouraging circumstance. 
We may be asked, "What can you do? What 
can a handful of missionaries do? Is it impossible 
that you, with your instrumentality, can accom- 
plish the wonders that you are projecting and 
dreaming about ? As to the Hindoos, we were 
told that they were too high, too polished, too 
learned, too refined, too sublimated, too far up for 
its with our Gospel. Well, then, as to the Hotten- 
tots, we thought surely we might go to them. No, 
no; they were too low, too far down, too sunken, 
too devoid of intellect. Then we considered we 
might take some part or other in the long line of 
these two extreme points; but wherever we began 



228 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



our operations we found some objection. How- 
ever, we tried the Hindu; and the yoke is hang- 
ing on him now very loosely indeed ; and come a 
few more prayerful efforts, and his yellow robe and 
his lying vanities are laid aside forever, and he is 
clothed with the robe of righteousness and the 
garment of salvation. And as to the Hottentot, 
as to the negro, O, what sweet societies we see 
of converted negroes ! what beautiful churches ! 
what large assemblies of communicants! I allow 
that, considering the vast amount yet to be done, 
what has been doue is like the few berries which 
the prophet saw at the top of a mulberry tree 
under the vision of Damascus. But those few 
berries are the germ of an immense forest that 
shall stretch all over the world, the certain pledge 
of universal extension. 

But I feel that I am exhausting you as well as 
myself, though I am not exhausting the subject ; 
there is a great deal more to be said — I hope a 
great deal more to be felt by you. But, instead 
of trespassing now, allow me to draw toward a 
close by one or two brief inferential remarks in 
the way of application of the whole subject. 

In the first place — for I cannot suppose that all 
in this immense assembly are yet the real voluntary 
subjects and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ — 
to that part of the congregation, therefore, I ad- 
dress myself a minute. You, my fellow-sinners, are 
not far from the kingdom of Christ : yes, you are 
not far from it ; you have heard the Gospel, and 
you have felt it; you know you have; you know 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 229 



you have : you know you have had many emotions 
stirred within your breasts, many convictions ex- 
cited within you ; you have some longings, some 
hearings of soul after the light and liberty of the 
Gospel ; but then you have smothered its convic- 
tions; you have gone away to the hurry of busi- 
ness, or the delirium of pleasure, and you have 
disregarded the voice of conscience, and the voice 
of the Gospel: and now you are as dark as ever 
you were, and as hard as ever you were, and as 
cold as ever you were; nay, I am afraid that some 
of you are darker than you were, that some of you 
are harder than you were, that some of you are 
colder than you were : for if metal thrown into the 
furnace to be subdued does not yield to the action 
of the fire, if it is not reduced, its texture becomes 
firmer, its parts come close together, and it is 
harder and denser than it was before. 

I fear I am addressing some this evening who do 
not feel so much now under a sermon as they felt 
seven years ago. I am no stranger to many of 
you ; you have heard my voice before. I preach 
to you — you who are unconverted who used to 
hear me in this place — I preach to you under a 
great disadvantage; I have to try to succeed 
where I failed before ; I have to try to get in 
where I was shut out before ; you have refused me, 
and others more powerful than myself by far, in 
their modes of preaching — you have refused me 
and them again and again : but I am not going to 
give you up ; I preach the Gospel to you ; I preach 
it to you, one and all; T preach it to you this mo. 



230 The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



merit; and I tell you the fact, that cold, blind, 
dead, dull, stupid, as you may be, through sin and 
misery, you may come to life, you may come to 
light and liberty. Jesus is the resurrection and 
the life ; he can raise the dead souls. O, that this 
night the kingdom of God may come to you ! I 
tell you it may be once for all, it may be for the 
last time — I tell you the ark of salvation, like 
Noah's ark, is floating this moment past your door ; 
it stops now at your threshold; and the voice of 
mercy invites you to come in. Get into the ark ; 
get into the ark : the deluge is coming on ; get 
into the ark. "He that believeth shall be saved; 
he that believeth not shall be damned." 

You who are the subjects of the kingdom of 
Christ, bear with me while I address one word to 
you. You have grace; seek for more grace; the 
reality and the experience of grace are one thing, 
the abundance of its communication is another. 
O that grace may rest on you all ! I am sure if 
the professors of religion were more pious, if they 
w T ere more spiritual, if they were more devoted, if 
they were more given to prayer, if they were what 
they ought to be ? and what they might be, their 
piety w T ould act with an augmented power, and 
vastly accelerate the coming of the kingdom of 
Christ. O ! that in this matter of individual per- 
sonal experience, as well as in general feeling, the 
light of the moon may be as the sun, and the light 
of the sun may be as seven days ! 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 231 



VII. 

"THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD BY FAITH." 

"Even the righteousness of G-od which is by faith of Jesus 
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no 
difference." — Romans iii, 22. 

What a book the Bible is ! How great its value, 
and of what various kinds is its value made up. 
To these very Scriptures we are indebted for the 
only rational account of the formation of man, of 
the origin of evil, and of the peopling of the world. 
The Bible makes us acquainted with events far 
more remote than the most authentic of profane 
historians give us any account of. The Bible, 
moreover, unfolds to us the only satisfactory ac- 
count of the being of a God: of his nature, of his 
essence, of his attributes, of his will, of his govern- 
ment, and of his providence. To the Scriptures 
we are indebted for a system of morals far simpler 
than that of Aristotle, far purer than that of Plato, 
far more spiritual than that of Seneca — pure as the 
graces around the throne of God in heaven ; — a 
theory of morals compared with which all the 
theories of morals elaborated in the groves and 
academies of the ancient world are but as the lisp- 
ings of infancy, or the driveling of idiocy. Oa 
all these accounts the Bible is the book for man \ 
the very book for him ; " a light to his feet and a 
lamp unto his path." But on none of these ac- 
counts, taken singly, nor on all of them, taken to- 



232 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes, 



gether, does the chief value of the Bible depend. 
The glory of the book, the charm of the volume, 
the special glory of these Scriptures is, that they 
contain a revelation of the mercy of God to guilty 
man, that they answer that all-important and 
transcendent question, u What must I do to be 
saved?" they giving a clear, full, unequivocal, in- 
telligible, perfect answer to that great question, 
and thus stamping the book with a unique, extra- 
ordinary, and transcendent value. It is compara- 
tively of no use for a man to be learned in the his- 
tory of the Scriptures, in the scholarship of the 
Scriptures, in the criticism of the Scriptures, in the 
morals of the Scriptures, if he remains unacquainted 
with, and unimpressed by, that divine method of 
righteousness, that plan of justification, which it is 
the specific object of the Bible to unfold, unwrap, 
unlock, set home, and apply. To none other of 
the writings of the Bible are we more indebted 
than to those of the Apostle Paul; all the writings 
of this man call for attention, and will well repay 
the profoundest and most intense application. On 
his faculties lay the dew of Hermon, on his lip lay 
the fire of heaven : he was a wise master builder, 
and well he laid the foundation; and "other foun- 
dation can no man lay than that is laid, which is 
Jesus Christ." 

There was a home-striking nervousness about 
Paul, a melting of tenderness, a soaring to a sub- 
limity of what art never knew. None of the writ- 
ings of Paul are more valuable than the Epistle to 
the Romans, just because in this epistle we have 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 233 



the clearest statement and the fullest vindication 
of God's method of righteousness — 

"0 how unlike the complex work of man, 
Is God's almighty simple saving plan." 

And that "simple saving plan" is presented in this 
epistle, is argued in this epistle, is affirmed in this 
epistle, is exhibited in this epistle, with a prodig- 
iousness of power and clearness, so that he who 
runs may read. 

My brethren, my fellow-countrymen, the need 
of a method of righteousness has its origin in the 
simple but startling fact, that man has sinned. 
God gave to man a law, a law eminently fitted for 
man ; a law the very transcript of the lawgiver's 
will. My brethren, my fellow-countrymen, man 
was under the strongest obligation to have kept 
that law ; but man has broken it — you — I- — we — 
ALL, have broken the law — a there is none right- 
eous, no, not one." If any man turns round of- 
fended with this charge, and says that unrighteous- 
ness in him is just a casualty, an accident, not in- 
tended — that he was overpowered by circumstances 
which he could not control, overmastered by 
temptation which he could not resist, that his loill 
never was in the transgression, that his under- 
standing never approved of it, that his mind always 
protested against it, that he is therefore more to be 
pitied than blamed — then the apostle comes for- 
ward with another declaration, " There is none that 
understandeth." Men are proud of their under- 
standing; they regard it as a pure and perfect 



234 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



chrysolite; even when they go the length of allow- 
ing that there is something the matter with their 
actions, they still stand up for the integrity of 
their understandings. They say, they never meant 
any thing bad; they never intended any thing 
wrong. Now, if the hands of the clock were al- 
ways pointing wrong, I don't suppose that any one 
here would be able to believe that the action of 
the machinery within was perfectly right — and if a 
man's actions are bad, his heart is not good! But 
since men are so proud of their understanding, 
and it is so difficult to bring them to believe that 
there is any thing really seriously the matter, ob- 
serve how the apostle brings forward a proof of 
what he says about the understanding: "There is 
none that seeketh after God ! " Why God is the 
" perfection of beauty " — the father mind of the 
universe; the central point of bliss; the fountain 
of all beatitude ; and if men understood that 
aright, they would seek after God ; as sure as the 
young flower seeks the sun and opening its petals 
in the morning, and turning them toward the sun, 
asks the sun to kiss them into loveliness and grace ; 
as sure as the needle in the compass seeks for the 
pole, and trembles till it points to it ; as sure as 
the water obeys the influences of the moon, and 
the attractions of the earth, in its ebbing and flow- 
ing, so certainly would the understanding seek 
after God if it were not utterly corrupt and de- 
based. Then, observe, how the apostle takes up 
the wdiole subject of our depravity and presents it 
before us, with an eye that never winks, with a 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 235 



nerve that never trembles; and, with a hand that 
never misses, he cuts down upon our corruption, 
through all the coverings that lie about it, all the 
bandages that shroud it, all the envelopes that 
conceal it — and cuts down till he comes to the 
core, and proves that man is tainted at the core, 
corrupt all over, all round, all through. So to 
speak, he says, and shows, that all the organs and 
all the tissues of a man's moral nature are involved 
in the general condemnation : the lips, the eves? 
the tongue, the throat, the head, the feet — " the 
throat is an open sepulcher;" "with the tongue 
the)' have used deceit ; " " the poison of asps is 
under the lip;" "the mouth is full of cursing and 
bitterness;" "the feet are swift to shed blood;" 
" destruction and misery are in their path, and the 
way of peace they have not known ;" "there is no 
fear of God before their eyes." 

And then, after this wonderfully minute, vivid, 
graphic, all-comprehensive description of our de- 
pravity, he draws this sweeping inference, " Now 
we know that whatsoever the law saith, it saith to 
them who are under the law." That takes us in ; 
that includes ourselves — "that every mouth may 
be stopped." What, do you plead your innocence ? 
Do you offer some palliation? "That every 
mouth may be stopped ! " Do you offer some ex- 
cuse? You may be good in your own eves; you 
may be good in the eyes of some of your fellow- 
men around you; but what the apostle affirms, 
with all the weight of apostolic authority, is, that 
" the whole world is guilty before God," 



236 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



Now, then, observe how the apostle comes for- 
ward afterward and announces the way of right- 
eousness just like the eagle darting from its eyrie 
in the cliff, and flying right in the face of the sun, 
there to dip his wing, stretch his pinion, fire his eye ; 
and away goes the apostle to communicate a new 
method of righteousness, a divine plan of justifica- 
tion. " But now," says he, " the righteousness of 
God without the law is manifest, being witnessed 
by the law and the prophets ; even the righteous- 
ness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto 
all them that believe; for there is no difference." 
May God bless his word ! Ci earth, earth, hear 
the word of the Lord ! " u Faith comes by hear- 
ing." 

Our topic, then, is justification, the righteous- 
ness of God, "Even the righteousness of God 
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon 
all them that believe; for there is no difference." 
We shall notice— 

I. The nature of the righteousness brought 
to us by the Gospel. 

II. The method of its application. 

III. Its universal application. 

Consider what 1 say; and if the Holy Ghost 
shall be pleased to carry home to your consciences 
what I should say to you, it will be like a fire, and 
it will burn up all the briers and thorns that are 
setting in array against the truth. May the Holy 
Ghost descend on the preacher and on the hearer! 

I. We have to consider the nature of the 
bighteousness brought to us by the Gospel — 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 237 



the righteousness itself, here called "the righteous- 
ness of God." This is a phrase, as used in the 
writings of the Apostle Paul, which lias two signi- 
fications — the justice of God, and conformity to 
law. It cannot here mean the justice of God, be- 
cause it is not true, either historically or theologic- 
ally, to say of the justice of God that it is upon a 
man. When Paul says, therefore, that the right- 
eousness of God is " upon " a man, it is not the 
justice of God that is intended. It must mean, 
then, conformity to law, provided for and brought 
about by a special arrangement of the providence 
of God — and therefore it is called ''the righteous- 
ness of God." In his epistles you find that the 
apostle makes mention of two sorts of conformity 
to law : the one fancied, the other real ; the one 
pharisaical, the other evangelical; the one ours, 
the other God's. In the ninth chapter of this epis- 
tle he says, " What shall we say then ? That the 
Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, 
have attained to righteousness, even the righteous- 
ness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed 
after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to 
the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because 
they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the 
works of the law." In the beginning of the next 
chapter we have a passage constructed in the same 
manner. He says, " Brethren, my heart's desire 
and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be 
saved. For I bear them record that they have a 
zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For 
they, being ignorant of God's righteousness" — 



2J 8 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



there is one righteousness — "and going about to 
establish their own righteousness " — there is an- 
other righteousness — " have not submitted them- 
selves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is 
the end of the law" — that is, the scope of the law 
— u for righteousness to every one that believeth." 
And there is just one passage more which I will 
recite to you. Paul says, "I count all things but 
loss, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, 
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the 
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, 
the righteousness which is of God by faith." I 
know not how these passages may strike you, but 
they strike me on this wise — the object of the 
apostle in constructing these sentences, clearly, is 
to drive us out of one righteousness, and shut us 
up to another. Then what is the righteousness of 
God ? What is the matter of it ? Is it faith ? I 
am asked by some one, Is it faith? forasmuch as 
in some of these passages it is called righteousness 
of faith ? I answer, No ; in no w^ise ; on no account. 
Faith is an act of man's own mind, whereas the 
righteousness of God is on a man — faith is the 
traveling forth of a sinners emptiness to meet the 
Saviour's fullness; the Saviour's fullness is one 
thing, and the sinner's emptiness going forth to 
meet him is another thing. Faith and the right- 
eousness of God are not identical, for the text says, 
" it is on him." I am asked by some if these good 
works which flow from the exercise of faith, in the 
Divine influence on the believing man, are the 
righteousness of God! I answer no! and I give 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 239 



this answer to this question for the same rea- 
son that I give it to the other question — these 
good works are ours, just as the fruits gathered 
from the soil are called the fruits of the earth ; 
they are the product of the influence of the sun, 
and rain, and dew, and a million atmospheric in- 
fluences acting on the tree and soil, and the fruits 
produced upon the tree are called the fruits of the 
earth ; so those good works which are produced in 
the exercise of faith, as the result of a Divine in- 
fluence on the believing man, are the man's, and he 
will be judged according to them at the last day; 
but righteousness is not man's, it is God's. Be- 
sides, I am not aware that these good works are 
absolutely perfect, and to be accepted by God 
they must be really and absolutely perfect. But 
if for argument sake I were to allow that they are 
so, I am met by the question, What is to be done 
with that black cloud of the sinner's past trans- 
gressions — that thunder cloud which is hanging 
over him, charged with electricity, fringed with 
lightning, and ready, at any moment, to burst on 
the sinner's head? Enough, enough; I feel it is 
enough ; the righteousness is not ours, it is the 
righteousness of God. When God sent forth his 
Son into the world, made of a woman, made under 
the law, it was that he might take every precept 
of the law of God, and fulfill it, illustrate it, ex- 
emplify it, and he could say, and he did say, 
u Which of you convinceth me of sin ? " u Sin is 
the transgression of the law." 

But observe the same necessity that led him to 



240 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



remain under the precept of the law, also com- 
pelled hi;n to be under the penalty of the law; for 
the law under which he w r as made was not a law 
simply ; it was a broken law, a dishonored law, 
and a law claiming and demanding satisfaction. 
When the Son of God was made of a woman, and 
made under the law, there was heard the most 
awful voice that ever was heard in the universe 
yet. "Awake, O sword, against the man that is 
my fellow, and smite the shepherd " — smite him ! 
When there w T as a man in the world that was Je- 
hovah's fellow there was some one who could 
magnify the law, in smiting whom justice could 
obtain its demands. The sword of justice smote 
him, struck him, cut him! The sword of justice 
had a commission to smite the man that was Je- 
hovah's fellow ; it smote him in Bethlehem ; it 
smote him all along the highway of his life, even 
to Calvary. On Calvary the strokes of the sword 
fell heavy; the glances of that sword then dark- 
ened the sun ; the strokes of the sword shook 
earth, shook hell ; it kept smiting and smiting the 
man that was God's fellow, till at last he cried, 
" It is finished ! " Then the sword fell at the foot 
of the cross, hushed, lulled, pacified ; and it lay 
there till the third hallowed morning, when it was 
found changed into a scepter of mercy ; and that 
scepter of mercy has been waving among mankind 
ever since, and it is waving now; it is waving in 
this assembly; it is so waving here that any one 
may stretch the hand and touch the scepter, and 
whoever touches it shall live, and may live forever. 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 241 



The apostle says, " Even the righteousness of 
God ; " as much as if he had said, and what a right- 
eousness ! "Evek the righteousness of God!" 
What a complete righteousness! What a perfect 
righteousness! It must be complete, it must be 
perfect! It is the doing of the Lord our God! 
What a glorious righteousness it is ! Sinner, get 
it on ! get it on ! the being clothed with it shall 
hide your abominations and loathsomeness, and you 
shall become lovely in the eye of God himself. 
He will see no spot in you ! no spot of guilt re- 
maining — 

" While Jesus' blood through earth and sky, 
Mercy, free, boundless mercy cry." 

With this righteousness on, there is not an angel 
from heaven moving on in the universe on some 
errands of benevolence and kindness that would 
not if he met you stop and say, " All hail ! thou art 
highly favored of the Lord ! " " Even the right- 
eousness of God." What a righteousness ! It is an 
everlasting righteousness. I like something that 
will last. Something that will not wear out. 
When God made the soul he made it to last. He 
wrote upon it — "I made this to last." The sun 
will not last ! The moon will not last ! The solar 
system will not last! All the stars will flee 
away; but this shall last; the soul will last, and 
when Christ made his righteousness, he made it to 
last. My fellow-sinners, get it on ; wear it ! fold 
it well about you when you go down into the 
swellings of Jordan : and then, all that I have to 
16 



242 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



say is, you will be righteous to all eternity. " Even 
the righteousness of God." 

And now let me ring the chimes in your ears ; 
let me fetch up some crystals out of the cabinet 
which contains this glorious truth. " This is the 
name whereby he shall be called — The Lord our 
Righteousness." "Lift up your eyes to the heav- 
ens, and look upon the earth beneath : for the 
heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the 
earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that 
dwell therein shall die in like manner : but my sal- 
vation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall 
never be abolished. Surely shall one say, In the 
Lord have I righteousness and strength, and in the 
Lord shall all Israel be justified." " Christ is made 
unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctifi- 
cation, and redemption." Have you got this 
righteousness ? Have your eyes seen this salva" 
tion? Or are you driveling life away in attempts 
to make a righteousness of your own? This you 
may attempt, but you can never succeed. As well 
t might you attempt to walk the starry firmament 
with your clayey feet; as well might you attempt 
to raise the ruined archangel from the bottomless 
pit, and wipe the brand off his brow with a single 
move of your hand, as attempt to make a right- 
eousness of your own. It is the righteousness of 
God. 

II. The method of its application. 

"Even the righteousness of God, which is by 
faith of our Lord Jesus Christ unto all, and upon 
all them that believe." As far as the offer of a 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 243 



righteousness is concerned, it is universal — u unto 
all." Be you who you may or what you may, 
come from whence you may, let your name or con- 
dition be what they may — the offer of this right- 
eousness comes to you. It comes to one as much 
as to another. Be yon the fairest Pharisee that 
ever walked in the light of his own eyes, or the 
foulest profligate reeking out of hell — be you a 
fifty pence debtor or a five hundred pence debtor 
— Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free — this right- 
eousness comes as much to you as to any one else. 
It is " unto all" Hear the tidings contained in the 
charter given to regulate the distribution and cir- 
culation of the Gospel — " Go ye into ail the world 
and preach the Gospel to every creature" Till 
that charter is torn up by him who gave it — till these 
words are cut out of the book by him that put 
them into it — I shall offer this righteousness to 
every one of you. It is "unto all" No man on 
earth, no devil from hell, no angel from heaven, 
shall hinder me from telling you, O sinner, that 
there is righteousness for you! Look this way! 
The white flag waves, and the silver trumpet 
sounds, and the note of invitation is given — "Ho, 
every one (every one) that thirsteth, come ye to 
the waters.' 5 

But, while the offer is thus unrestricted, the ap- 
plication of the righteousness is to them that be- 
lieve. Now, do not look to me for a philosophical 
definition of the meaning, or a metaphysical, ac- 
count of what is included in believing. "Believ- 
ing" is a simple term, a simple term is a term ex- 



244 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



pressing a simple idea, and a simple idea is an idea 
which is as plain at first as it is at last. It is an 
idea which is so plain at first, that if you try to make 
it plainer by heaping up a quantity of words and a 
quantity of philosophy, you 44 darken counsel" and 
mystify the subject. It is an idea seen at first as 
clearly as at last; therefore, if I do not attempt 
any metaphysical or philosophical definition of be- 
lieving, it is because such attempts on the part of 
learned men have oiten rather increased than at all 
alleviated the matter. I would rather ask, Do 
you believe? That's the question. Let it go 
round and circulate among you ! Dost thou be- 
lieve on the Son of God ? I am afraid that there 
are some here who are so far from believing for a 
righteousness, that they have never yet felt the 
need of a righteousness. "If we say we have no 
sin, we deceive ourselves ; " but, " if we confess our 
sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our 
sins." 

Come, then, fellow-sinner. Bring out your sin 
and confess it to God, and he will bring out his 
righteousness. Bring it out as Cranmer brought 
out his hand, which, in a moment of great bodily 
weakness, mental depression, stormy persecution, 
and strong temptation, signed away his faith — 
that hand which afterward signed also a recanta- 
tion of his recantation, and an abjuration of his 
abjuration; and when he had recanted his recanta- 
tion, and abjured his abjuration, the enemies of the 
truth brought him to the stake, when, before the 
names had singed his hoary locks, he held out his 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



245 



right hand, exclaiming, "This is it! This is the 
hand that signed ! This is the hand that sinned ! 
And," (thrusting it into the flames,) " let it perish 
first ! " My fellow-sinner, bring out your sin, and 
Christ will bring out his righteousness. Come a 
little nearer ! Come as near to him as the cele- 
brated woman mentioned in the Gospel did, who 
wept so that she washed his feet with her tears, 
and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Yes ! 
she brought tears and ointment; but neither of 
these brought her salvation. Her penitence brought 
the tears, and her zeal brought the ointment; but 
neither of these saved her. It was her faith that 
saved her ! To put it as the Puritans would put it 
— to use their quaint mode of expression — when 
repentance comes, it comes with a big gushing 
tear ; when patience comes with its broad back, it 
bears a heavy burden; when zeal comes, it comes 
with a flaming revenge ; but when faith comes, it 
comes with an empty hand, to get all, take all, and 
carry all away. Lord, increase our faith ! 

Now, then, do you believe? The Lord help 
your uubelief! If you have believed, then you 
have experienced what the Apostle Paul calls 
u the peace of believing." Ah ! there is no peace 
like that, just as there is no sweetness like the 
sweetness of the honeycomb. There are, doubt- 
less, many sweet substances besides honey, but 
nothing is so sweet as it is. Why ? Because the 
little laborious bee all the live-long summer is 
kissing and collecting from every flower its sweet- 
ness as it opens to the summer's sun on the mount- 



246 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



ain's side or in the stretching glen ; and after the 
laborer has kissed, collected, and collocated all the 
sweetness from thousands and tens of thousands 
of flowers, it mixes all up in its little laboratory, 
and the product is that sweetest of all sweet 
things — honey ; and just because the honey is so 
Very sweet because it is made in that particular 
way, so the " peace of believing " is so very pre- 
cious because Christ has made it in his way. By 
the blood of the cross he obtained and procured it 
for us, and then handed it over to us by a deed of 
formal consignment, saying, " Peace I leave with 
you, my peace I give unto you.'' 

What peace is this ? Why, it is the very peace 
of God, which, it is said, ^passeth all understand- 
ing." I cannot describe to you how profound it 
is, or how rich it is : I can merely say that it is 
the very opposite of the wretchedness of the un- 
believer; and if you ask me to describe that 
wretchedness, how am I to do it? There is a 
description in the Gospel of a man who was pos- 
sessed with a demon, and who cut himself with 
knives and stones, and, in company w^ith other 
demons, horrible and execrable as himself, he 
spent his nights amid the tombs. That is a picture 
of wretchedness, than which I know of none more 
consummate and finished. The explanation of 
that is, the fiend in him boasted of himself that he 
was no common fiend ; he said his name was 
" Legion." Just as the wretchedness of this man 
was so deep and consummate because it was no 
common fiend that possessed him, so is the peace 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 247 



of the believer a profound peace because the name 
of its author is no common name. Just as all the 
flower is in the bud, just as all the day is in the 
dawn, just as all the man is in the child, so all 
peace is included in the peace of believing — peace 
wnh- God and with conscience, peace on earth and 
in heaven ; and all sorts of peace are in the peace 
of believing ! 

Now, then, I have merely to show you, for a 
moment, how believing in Christ for a righteous- 
ness insures conformity to law. "Do we make 
void the law through faith ? God forbid ; we es- 
tablish the law." Here I will make use of a sup- 
position, by way of illustration, wiiich nothing but 
a miracle could enable you to realize. Suppose a 
mau saw the law of God, and brought all his facul- 
ties but one to bear upon it. Suppose this faculty 
for a time was completely taken out of him, and 
put behind a curtain on this side of which he is 
sitting with the law of God before his eyes. It is 
man's recollecteclness of his violation of this law 
that I propose to deprive him of, and place behind 
the curtain. Bereft of this, how he gazes with 
admiration on the beauty and glory of God's law, 
exclaiming, " How worthy is the Lawgiver ! " Sup- 
pose another man beholding this one looking on 
that most holy thing, the law of God, which he 
has so openly and repeatedly violated, in this way. 
The spectator perceives that this poor man sees 
only half the truth, and that if this curtain were 
cut away, the whole truth would confront him. 
Seeing this, you strive to approach and lift the 



248 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



vail. But you fear that you may do it so widely, 
indelicately, and incautiously, that ten thousand 
to one that when the reality came rushing on the 
poor man — that he was cursed by the law — he 
would dash it down, and fly away in despair, and 
become as the monster of malevolence to whom 
we have referred. But if you call on your fellow- 
men, what can they do? They are just as power- 
less as you are. If you called upon an angel, with 
his soft, quiet, delicate hand, what can he do ? 
He cannot absolve him. It may be, moreover, 
that that angel is the very being whose business 
it is to summon this man to the solemn judgment. 
In this sore dilemma you fall down upon your 
knees, and exclaim, 44 Thou, and thou alone, O 
Jesus, canst do this ! Thou wilt perform it wisely, 
delicately, tenderly, and mercifully. Thou, and 
thou alone, canst perform it with a due considera- 
tion of all the consequences ; thou alone mayest 
lift the vail, for with that self-same hand with 
which thou unvailest his guilt thou wilt point him 
to pardon though thy bleeding side." What effect 
has the law of God upon him now ? Does he dash 
it down and fly away from it ? No ! " O, how I 
love thy law!" he says; and then comes sanctifl- 
cation, justification, and righteousness — 44 even the 
righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus 
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; 
for there is no difference." 

III. The universal application. 

1 pass on now to make some application of what 
has been said — for 44 there is no difference," 44 No 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



249 



difference ! " I apply this first, in directing you 
to the necessity which lies on every one of you to 
obtain the righteousness of God. O ! my fellow- 
sinner, if you are without it you are living in peril 
every moment ; and if you die without it, you are 
lost and undone forever ! Do not turn round upon 
me and say, it is very unreasonable on my part to 
insist upon it, that every man shall stand side by 
side on the same platform for a righteousness — 
that all shall take exactly the same ground for this 
righteousness. Why ? There is 41 no difference ; " 
all have sinned and come short of the glory of 
God ; there is none righteous — no, not one : " and, 
if there is no difference in the disease, why should 
there be any difference in the remedy ? Some 
may sin oftener than others, and in a manner at 
once more provoking to God, and more injurious 
to society ; but there is no really essential differ- 
ence. I know that ten thousand sins will sink a 
sinner deeper into hell than one sin ; but I also 
know that one sin is as sufficient to sink a man 
into hell as a million, though not so deep. Have 
we not had terrific experience of the effects of one 
sin ? Take the case of Adam. It was noi the ten 
thousand sins that followed the first, but that 
alone, which ruined the race. That one sin did it 
all, dashing the ship on the rock ; that one trans- 
action made bankrupt the entire human family ; 
and "there is no difference." 

Come down, then, my fellow-sinner, from your 
fancied superiority, and stand by the side of the 
chief of sinners, and cry, a God be merciful to me 



250 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



a sinner; " for there is no difference in the encour- 
agement held out to you. Why stand ye afar off? 
Draw nigh. You are as welcome to this blessing 
as any one who ever partook of it. Noah found 
it, David described it, Paul experienced it ; but 
these men were not more welcome than you are ; 
"for there is no difference." Christ called for a 
towel, and put off his upper garment, girded him- 
self with a towel, took water, and washed the feet 
of his disciples. He is here now ; but his basin is 
filled not with water, but with blood ; and he is 
going around from row to row, and from individual 
to individual, through the mouth of his servant, 
offering to cleanse you all by his blood. Do you 
say you never can be clean? He says, "Let me 
try. Let me wash thee. My blood cleanseth 
from all unrighteousness. What if thy sins are 
as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; and 
though they be red like crimson, they shall be 
white as wool. Let me wash thee." There is no 
difference. Don't stand trembling there. Draw- 
near! It is "unto all, and upon all them that be- 
lieve." The only difference is between the believer 
and unbeliever. 

What makes you tremble, sinner? Is the hawk 
abroad ? Have you caught a glimpse of his fiery 
eye, of his sharp talons, and of his beak whetted 
for destruction ? Once a little bird was perched 
on a tree in a gentleman's garden ; a large fierce 
hawk perceived and pursued it from bough to 
bough, and from tree to tree, till at length the 
poor little terrified thing was almost overtaken, 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



251 



and fled, as a last resort, to the bosom of the gen- 
tleman who was observing it. There it was safe 
from the talons of the hawk. Now, sinner, the 
hawk of justice is abroad after you! Fly ! Fly ! 
Come! u O! Whither? Whither? There is no 
refuge in earth or heaven ! " Yes — there is. Es- 
cape to the Saviour's bleeding side. He is wait- 
ing to take you in and make you clean. Come 
to him, exclaiming — 

" Rock of Ages, cleft for me, 
Let me hide myself in thee." 

In conclusion, let me say, first, how thankful I 
am to have such a Gospel as this to preach. I 
preach it with delight to perishing sinners. O! 
how admirably it suits their case ! How exactly 
it accommodates itself to all their helplessness 
and vileness ! Does music suit the ear, entering 
into the cavity, flowing along the channels reach- 
ing to the brain, and acting thence upon the soul 
— does music fit the ear? Does light fit the eye, 
coming olf from the body of the sun, passing over 
objects in its way, entering the eye, acting through 
the brain upon the soul? How beautifully the 
light fits the eye ! Does the key fit the lock, 
turning its wards, shooting its bolts, and remov- 
ing all obstructions ? Music does not fit the ear, 
the light does not fit the eye, the key does not fit 
the lock, so well as the Gospel fits the sinner ; it 
so precisely meets his case. It is all he wants. I 
preach this Gospel with peasure. It is good tid- 
ings, and I announce them with joy — I publish 



252 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



them with delight. Mine is the white flag. Mine 
is not the solemn trumpet of brass, but the silver 
trumpet of the glorious Gospel. 

Let us take care that we do not imitate the 
Jews, in going about to establish our own right- 
eousness. Don't you carry on that controversy 
any longer with your Maker. It was carried on 
by the Jews, and kept up by them generation 
after generation. Don't you keep it up and carry 
it on. Give up. Submit to establish the right- 
eousness of God, which is Christ, the end of the 
law for righteousness to every one that believeth. 
How thankful am I that I have such a method of 
righteousness to make known to you to-day ! My 
tongue has described it, and, w r ith its faltering ac- 
cents, has told you of the righteousness of God. 
Accept — receive — embrace it ! It is the power of 
God to every one that believeth, and shall we not 
communicate it to others ? What ! Shall we have 
this medicine of life and not hand it to others? 
Hold forth the word of life ! Tell of the way of 
salvation ! When I cease to speak of this right- 
eousness, may my ministerial tongue cleave to the 
roof of my mouth ; and when I forget to pro- 
claim it, may my right hand forget her cunning. 
I have no Gospel but this ; there is none other ; 
and he that believeth not shall be damned. 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 253 



VIII. 

THE WISDOM OF WINNING SOULS. . 

"He that winneth. souls is wise." — Proverbs xi, 30. 

The estimate which men form of spiritual things 
is very different from that which they form of 
temporal things. A spiritual evil is not so much 
the object of our alarm as temporal evil — a spirit- 
ual good is not so much the object of our ambi- 
tion and pursuit as temporal good. An individual 
who is the victim of temporal evil excites our pity 
and kindles our compassion ; but an individual 
perishing in ignorance and dying in sin excites no 
compassion. Now, this is what might have been 
expected to have been the case as to those who 
are avowedly infidels, who profess no sort of solic- 
itude whatever, beyond that which terminates in 
the body and in time ; but what, I say, is the case 
as to multitudes of those who make a profession of 
a belief in the inspiration of the Bible ? And yet, 
many of those are quite indifferent to the spiritual 
wretchedness which is multiplied around them ; 
and not only are they indifferent to it themselves, 
but they frown upon others who are endeavoring 
to meet it, and in some measure to diminish it. 
According to them we are, by our folly, our enthu- 
siasm, and our fanaticism, turning the world up- 
side down. Now, there must be a great error in 



254 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



this, either in the faith or in the feelings of those 
who thus underrate our efforts — who not only do 
nothing toward them, but who scorn and sneer at 
those whose object it is to turn the sinner from the 
error of his ways. 

I know that the objection which they bring 
forward often shrouds itself under this accusation 
— that what with our Sabbath-schools, and what 
with one thing and another, we shall absolutely 
eat up the substance of the land ; and that there 
will be nothing left to clothe the orphan, to feed 
the hungry, to sustain the widow ; and they affect 
to feel a powerful sympathy with the temporal ills 
of mankind — with the physical wretchedness of 
human nature, as it is multiplied around them ; and 
yet I will venture to say — for we cannot stop now 
to go into the matter, but I throw it off as an as- 
sertion and I challenge any one to the proof of it, 
the most learned, the most historical, the most 
philosophical individual present — that Christianity, 
and Christianity alone, has done more for the relief 
of the temporal ills of mankind than ever was done 
by philosophy, human reason, human policy, human 
sagacity, or humanity itself, from the beginning of 
the world down to this hour. There never was a 
grosser fallacy than that which would teach and 
represent, that the influence of Sabbath-school in- 
stitutions, and kindred institutions, will dry up the 
sources of relief for the temporal ills of mankind. 
But I will venture to say this much— that as to 
those societies and institutions, the object of which 
is the relief of the physical ills of mankind, you 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 255 



will find it is not another set of names that occupy 
the reports of these institutions, from the names of 
those who fill the reports of your Sabbath-schools, 
your Bible Societies, your Mission Institutions, 
and your other confederacies for the diminution of 
spiritual evil ; the fact is, they are the same indi- 
viduals that contribute to both ; and since the for- 
mation of Sabbath-schools and other kindred insti- 
tutions, there has been far more clone for the relief 
of the temporal ills of mankind than ever was done 
before. 

And however much we may feel affected and 
distressed at the thought of the abounding of hu- 
man wretchedness around us, there never was a 
time when so many feet were actually moving to 
the abodes of wretchedness, so many hands actually 
dealing out bounty for the relief of the needy, as 
at this time ; and, therefore, I could not this even- 
ing, if my object was to plead for one of these in- 
stitutions which aim at the relief of the physical 
distress of mankind, render such institutions more 
effectual service than by turning your attention to 
the spiritual evils of mankind; because I am quite 
sure of one thing — that the charity that shall ad- 
dress itself to that, will so warm and glow and di- 
late and expand itself there, that it will spread to 
the relief of all the ills of human nature. 

" He," then, saith Solomon, ct that winneth souls 
is wise." Perhaps you will say to me, Why take 
such a text as this to address us with ? Why, it 
is a text which marks out the duty of ministers of 
religion. I grant, indeed, that it is our office and 



256 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



prerogative, and that it ought to be our daily and 
nightly and hourly study and labor to fill up this 
character. But where is the text found ? Did I 
announce it to you as a part of the epistle to Tim- 
othy ? Did I read it out of the epistle of Paul to 
Titus ? Did I read it out of any one of the seven 
letters which are contained in the last book of 
the Bible, and which were addressed to the min- 
isters of the seven Asiatic Churches ? No : I 
told you that the text was in the book of Prov- 
erbs, and that is the people's book more than the 
preacher's. And the text being found in the book 
of Proverbs, shows us that every man ought to 
address himself to this noble enterprise, and that 
it should not be considered as appropriate to minis- 
ters only; that it should not be considered as the 
peculiar and exclusive duty or prerogative of the 
ministers of religion, or those who fill certain offices 
in the Church, to endeavor to win souls, but that 
every man is summoned to arouse himself to this 
noble enterprise ; for the text saith, " He that win- 
neth souls is wise." 

I propose this evening, First, to direct your 
attention to the object which is here proposed to 
our benevolent sympathies and regard — the souls 
of men. Secondly, to the duty which is here 
enjoined upon us in reference to this object — 
to win them. And, thirdly, we shall notice the 
commendation that is pronounced upon the 
man that winneth souls, " He that winneth souls 
is wise." 

In selecting this subject, as being directly appro- 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 257 



priate to the interesting occasion which has gath- 
ered us together at this time, I have at once in 
view the ultimate object of all Sabbath-school in- 
stitutions ; for although there are certain social 
and civil and domestic and intellectual advantages 
which infallibly must grow out of Sabbath-school 
institutions, their main, their cardinal, their ulti- 
mate object is the welfare of the souls of those 
who are their objects. This is what we have in 
view. And therefore I proceed to direct your 
attention to, 

First: The object here proposed to our 

BENEVOLENT SYMPATHY AND REGARD — THE SOUL 

of man. Where shall I begin, or what words 
shall I employ, in discoursing to you of the soul ; 
for, after all that philosophy and theology and 
poetry and oratory and history and ethics have 
written and said and sung about the human soul, 
what a mystery it is! The soul of man! Who of 
us understands it ? In thinking on it, let us en- 
deavor, for a single moment, to fix your attention 
on the nature and frame of the human soul. In 
nature, then, it is not material ; it is spiritual and im- 
material. Especially in addressing such an assem- 
bly as this, it would be improper to show, by any 
train of argument, how it is that the soul is spirit- 
ual ; I will therefore adopt the only popular meth- 
od of showing it, and that is, by showing that the 
body is divisible, or separable — that it is an aggre- 
gate of parts, a congeries of innumerable particles 
cemented together ; and, therefore, when death 
ensues, the body crumbles to pieces ; and that mass 
17 



258 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



which we now call the body becomes disjointed, 
and goes into a million fragments, and these are 
blown and wafted hither and thither ; but the 
soul is a homogeneous substance — it is indivisible, 
insoluble, inseparable; and, therefore, when acci- 
dents happen to the body, with which the soul 
has now an affinity, or when a limb shall be taken 
away, or more limbs than one, or a considerable 
portion of the animal economy, the integrity of 
the soul remains untouched, indivisible, insepara- 
ble. The soul remains entire. No dissociation of 
the several parts and particles which go to make 
up the mass which we call the human body has 
any effect or influence whatever on the composi- 
tion of the human soul — because the soul is not 
matter ; if it were matter, it would be soluble, it 
would be divisible, and its parts would go to 
pieces ; if it were matter, it would be resolvable ; 
if it were matter, its parts and particles would 
be separable ; but the soul is not separable, and 
therefore it is not matter. And if it is not matter, 
it is and must be spirit; for we know of no other 
substances but these two — matter and spirit, flesh 
and mind, body and soul — these make up the 
whole of what we know to have any existence in 
the universe of God. 

Now, philosophers have speculated much about 
the locality of the soul in the body. It was 
the opinion of Aristotle — whose philosophy held 
such a potent sway over all Europe, and that 
for many centuries — that the soul of man had its 
local residence in the brain ; and not, as the 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 259 



popular philosophy teaches, in the whole volume 
of the two hemispheres of the brain, attached 
to the whole mass of it in the skull ; but that the 
soul dwelt in a small gland in the brain, which is 
called the pineal gland — that it abode there as a 
bird in a cage — and gave forth from that very, 
very small glandular body all its volitions to the 
nerves, the nerves to the muscles, and the muscles 
acted on the bones ; and so he accounted for the 
ordinary functions of life. Whether the soul is 
attached to any particular portion of the brain, 
or is associated with the whole nervous struc- 
ture, ramified as it is over the whole body, I know 
not ; nor do I think Aristotle knew ; nor do I 
know that any of the old philosophers knew ; nor 
am I presumptuous enough to say that any philos- 
ophers, even at this day, know. The subject is 
mysterious ; and all that we know is, that the soul 
is, somehow or other, connected with the body ; and 
that when the soul leaves the body the body dies, 
and then there ensues all those great physical 
changes on the body which make death so unwel- 
come to us. But it may be sufficient, at present, 
just to say, that the soul, in its nature and in its 
frame, is infinitely superior to the body; and that 
wdiile the body is nothing but an accumulation of 
parts and particles, the soul is, in itself, a com- 
plete substance, and undergoes no change as to 
its essence, amid all the contingencies to which 
the body may be subject. The soul is spiritual 
and not material; and although it dwells in matter, 
it is perfectly and entirely distinct from it. 



260 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



1. The soul of man ! Shall we endeavor to form 
some estimate of it by noticing its Maker, its ori- 
gin ? Think of the human soul, then, as formed 
for eternity — as occupying all the attributes of 
Jehovah in its formation — as made in the true 
image of God — as made next in rank and degree, 
though equal in blessedness to the angelic multi- 
tude. But how has the gold become dim — how has 
the most fine gold been changed — how has the 
crown of our original dignity fallen from our head ! 
And yet this jewel is left, though it is now en- 
crusted only with sin ; though it is not in the con- 
dition it was in when it came from the hands of its 
Maker, still there is that about it that tells us 
something of what it was. Just as the glory on 
the clouds of the western horizon, after the sun has 
set, tells us that the sun has been there, although 
it has set, so are there seen in the soul of man, in 
the wreck to which it has been subjected, traces 
and marks of its primeval glory and dignity. Such 
is the faculty of reason ; and the power of con- 
science and the compunctions of remorse that at- 
tend the footsteps of the sinner record the power 
of the human conscience still. 

2. Shall we endeavor to think of the human soul, 
by forming a notion of its capacities and faculties 
and properties ? Think of its power of thought 
— of the recording pen of memory — of the tablet 
of the heart — of the creation of genius — the glow 
of enterprise — the light of reason — the voice of 
conscience ; all proving to us that the soul of man 
is spiritual, intellectual, immaterial, immortal. You 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 261 



may sublimate matter even to infinity — you may 
throw it from crucible to crucible — you may make 
it perform a million of transitions as to its form 
and condition; but you can never produce the pow- 
er of thought from matter. No modification of it 
will ever give rise to a single thought ; but the spul 
has the power of thought. Think, too, of its power 
of knowledge. Rivers have their limits, the ocean 
has its bounds, but the soul of man wanders on 
and on, exploring invisible and distant objects. It 
plunges into the abysses of creation, past and pres- 
ent — it ascends to the very footsteps of the eternal 
throne, to which it has been invited by the Saviour, 
and is stayed there only by the glory of him who 
sits upon it ; and if, like the child of ambition, of 
whom history has told us, that when he had con- 
quered the world he sat down and wept, because 
there were no more worlds to conquer — so, if the 
human soul ever could acquire so much knowledge 
as that it should suppose there was no more 
knowledge to gain, it, too, would weep, because it 
could acquire no more. If Sir Isaac Newton had 
been alive at this day, from the clay in which he 
flourished, he would have been learning still. 
What a wonder is the human mind ! and this 
power of knowledge which is the prerogative 
of it will be found throughout eternity to be 
one source of our happiness, one spring of our 
enjoyment. 

3. Then, think of its power of pleasing ! How it 
can charm by description — dazzle by comparison- 
enliven by wit— convince by argument — thrill, 



262 The Wesley ail Demosthenes. 



captivate, and carry away by eloquence ! Think 
of its power of acting on matter — in the, glow of 
painting — in the symmetry of architecture — in the 
beauty of sculpture — in the enchanting tones of 
music, and all the vast variety of intonations of 
the human voice ! For what is that which gives 
such endless variety to the intonations of the 
human voice? It is the soul that is w r ithin — it is 
the flood of thought and feeling: that gives to the 
human voice that million-fold power and variety 
which it possesses. Think, too, of its power over 
matter ! It can convey the spirit of discoveries to 
notes and tablets ; and thus, after the spirit shall 
have fluttered away from the world, it will still be 
acting on minds generations off ; and though it 
shall have left the world, yet, by having memo- 
rialized its own discoveries, and having com- 
mitted them to something or other that shall 
hand them downward to posterity, man may be 
said to live onward, as it were, through an indefi- 
nite series. 

4. But, in thinking of the soul, let me take the 
scriptural way, and the way which I am sure allol 
you will immediately sympathize with, in endeav- 
oring to prove its value, and that is, by observing 
that the soul must be of inestimable value, for its 
redemption has been effected by Jesus Christ. I 
have intimated already that the soul of man is lost 
■ — that man has fallen from his high estate. O, 
what must be the value of the soul in the estima- 
tion of Almighty God, when he did not think it 
too much to give his own Son in order to ransom 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 263 



it ! God so loved the world — yes, God so loved 
the soul — now you shall estimate its value if you 
can — God so loved the soul that in order to redeem 
it and save it, he gave up his only begotten Sou ! 
O, go in devout contemplation to Gethsemane, and 
see the Son of God covered over with sweat and 
blood, and hear the plaintive accents which burst 
from his lips when he said, u My soul is exceeding 
sorrowful, even unto death." Follow him to mount 
Calvary ; to the bowing of his head and the giving 
up of the ghost. Yon sun hid its face, the earth 
wrapped itself in mourning, the rocks burst asunder 
— nature, to its very center, shook, and felt that 
her Lord was suffering and dying ! O, if you can 
fathom the depth — if you can span the length — if 
you can soar to the height of the sufferings of the 
Son of God — if you can weigh the tears and the 
blood which he shed — if you can measure the sighs 
and the sobs that he heaved, then, but not till 
then, will you be able to learn the value of the hu- 
man soul ; for the Son of God gave up his life to 
ransom the soul of man. When we are, from cer- 
tain circumstances, incapable of estimating the 
value of any given object that may be presented 
to our notice or contemplation, from our inca- 
pacity or the limited nature of our understand- 
ing and other mental faculties, if we can only 
find out, from some source or other, what the 
object cost, then we may form an idea of its value ; 
and though the human soul mocks our efforts and 
eludes our touch — and though neither poetry, nor 
theology, nor philosophy, nor history, has ever 



264 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



done it justice — yet we may know its value, in 
some sort, when we find out that God, in order to 
save it, gave up Jesus Christ, his only-begotten 
Son ; and we do not wonder, therefore, that Jesus 
Christ should exclaim, as he did : " What shall it 
profit a man, if he gain the whole world and lose 
his own soul ? " 

5. Again. In forming an estimate of the human 
soul, let us think for a moment — though this is a 
bewildering subject — on the endless duration of 
the souVs existence. There is only one word that 
can be applied to the duration of the human soul, 
and that is a word which you understand just as 
well as I do — which the peasant comprehends the 
meaning of as well as the philosopher — that is, the 
word eternity. Eternity ! Thou word of solemn 
and mysterious import, thou art the only word that 
can be applied to the duration of the soul of man ! 
And what is eternity? The question has been 
asked again and again, and wise men and sages 
have answered it in different ways. I must con- 
fess, that the answer that has struck me as the 
most appropriate is the answer furnished by a boy 
in a Sunday-school. He was asked, What is eter- 
nity ? After a pause the little boy said — not, 
indeed, a very little boy, but he w T as attending a 
Sunday-school — -"Eternity is the life-time of the 
Almighty ! " I defy a divine to give a better an- 
swer. I defy any man on earth to furnish a more 
satisfactory answer. Eternity, indeed, is the life- 
time of the Almighty ! It is applicable to the life- 
time of the Almighty; as it is said a parte ante % 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 265 



and a parte post — God is eternal as to the past 
part of his existence. The soul, however, is not 
eternal in that sense — it was created coeval with 
the body; but a parte post, that is, as the future 
part of its existence, the duration of the human 
soul to come, will run on in parallel lines with 
the duration of the throne of God. And as to the 
speculations which have been entered into by phi- 
losophers and divines, as to whether the soul is 
naturally immortal or not, I, for my part, can see 
no weight in the question ; it is no matter whether 
it is so naturally, or as a special donation from 
heaven. All that we know is that it is so, some- 
how or other, either naturally or as a gift of 
God. It is enough for us to know that the soul 
is immortal — that it never, never dies. Like a 
mighty river, the track of which you can fol- 
low from region to region and from soil to soil, 
but which, at last, bewildered, you lose, by the 
river entering into a deep and embowered wood 
— you can follow it no further : the wood is 
so thick, the forest is so dense, you cannot go 
after it, but you hear it dashing on by the furi- 
ousness of its roar. So it is with the human 
soul ; you can trace it to death, but you can 
go no further in your own observations. But we 
know that death does not terminate its existence 
— that it is immortal — that its existence runs on 
through endless ages. O, how valuable, then, is 
the human soul ! 

Secondly — The conduct described in the 

2\hXT, IN REFERENCE TO THIS OBJECT. AND RECOM* 



266 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



MENDED TO OUR ADOPTION BY THE WISE MAN — " He 

that winneth souls is wise." 

I hardly need detain you for one moment in the 
way of a word of caution. By winning of souls, 
in the text, as applied to men, we are not to un- 
derstand that we can win them as principals. ~No ; 
it is only as instruments and accessories. Christ 
is the ransomer of the soul; that we have seen al- 
ready, and that you will bear in your minds. He 
it is who hath won them — that hath bought them 
— that hath ransomed them — that hath pur- 
chased them — that hath done the great thing which 
we never could have done for them. But though 
we cannot win them as our principals, we may win 
them as instruments and accessories. This is what 
yau are summoned to labor and to attempt to do. 
"He that winneth souls is wise.' 5 This has been 
rendered by a French commentator — " He that 
sweetly draweth souls to God maketh a holy con- 
quest of them." And of all the versions of the 
golden sentence which I have taken for my text, 
there is none that seems to me to fall in with the 
meaning so fully as that of Didoret — " He that 
sweetly draweth souls to God maketh a holy con- 
quest of them." Souls are not to be got by com- 
pulsion — souls are not to be driven. You may 
apply your instruments of torture to every inch of 
the surface of the body, and the body may be with- 
in sight and within feeling of death, but the soul 
will not be a slave, and spurns the thought of slav- 
ery. You know Mohammed pushed his conquest 
with the point and two edges of the sword ; and 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 267 



you know the mother of harlots lias endeavored to 
ride over the world, to enslave the intellectual, 
and bend down the human soul, and bring souls to 
God in that way ; but souls are not so to be got — 
they must be sweetly drawn, not dragged, not 
driven. 

You know, especially, as far as the children of 
Sunday-schools are concerned, and all other chil- 
dren, that a sweetness of mariner is preferable to 
power of argument ; and though the power of ar- 
gument may do something with some of the more 
philosophical and stoical members of the human 
family, yet that which is to win and fascinate and 
touch the heart of a child is the sweetness and 
softness of love. And, in fact, it is that which 
touches the heart of any man. He that knows 
well the mechanism of the human heart, has told 
us, that the cords of love and the bands of man 
are what must be used ; and if you want to bind a 
man, you must not attempt to bind him clown by 
the cable rope of philosophical argument, but by 
throwing around him the soft and silken cords of 
love. That, and that alone, will bind a man 
down. 

As instruments, we are to labor to win souls. 
How, then, is it to be done ? 

First. We are to endeavor to win them by in- 
struction. The soul of man is naturally ignorant. 
Knowledge is wanted — -knowledge is delightful to 
the mind — -knowledge is agreeable to the soul as 
light is to the eye or honey to the palate. The 
soul of man, when first created, was created in the 



268 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



image of God — in the image of his knowledge. Now, 
I know that it is possible that knowledge might be 
communicated by miracle ; but I have no right to 
expect that it will be so communicated. God might 
communicate knowledge to the mind of man di- 
rectly, as he did to the minds of the prophets and 
apostles. There was a direct communication of 
knowledge, of the material, of the element of 
knowledge — a direct inspiration into the minds of 
the prophets and apostles ; but we have no reason 
whatever to suppose that in that way knowledge 
will ever be communicated again. Knowledge is 
to be communicated, now, from mind to mind — 
from one to another. Thus the very prophets 
were to communicate what they had to the peo 
pie; and thus the apostles were to go into all the 
world, to communicate their knowledge to every 
creature. Thus, then, the man who has knowledge 
is bound to communicate it to the man who has 
not. 

And as to the method of communicating instruc- 
tion, especially in a Sabbath-school — I am not 
talking about other schools — the language should 
be plain, familiar, and simple. Illustrations may 
be brought from science and nature ; but this we 
must take care to do in such a way as to make all 
these as instruments, subservient to spiritual good. 
In the month of July or August, if you saw a corn- 
field covered with flowers of every hue and size 
and color, the spectator might be gratified with 
the sight, and the traveler might be amused with 
the spectacle; but not so the owner — the proprie- 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 269 



tor, the farmer — he would have every flower torn 
up by the root and thrown over the hedge — he 
does not want his field covered with poppies, but 
with wheat. 

Plainness of speech, then, is necessary. It is re- 
marked of Job Orton, in his " Memoirs of Dr. Dodd- 
ridge," that, having once preached about the primi- 
tive Christians, while walking one day a person 
came up to him and asked what sort of Christians 
the primitive Christians were ? u I told him," said 
the biographer, "they were the first Christians ; and 
I took care ever after to use the phrase first Chris- 
tians, and not the primitive Christians." And so 
it is as to children; we should use easy and not 
hard words — words easily cut on the tablet of the 
memory, not those which are so tortuous as that 
they cannot be engraven in the youthful mind. 
We should teach them the knowledge of Jesus 
Christ. Parents, fathers, mothers, Sunday-school 
teachers, masters, altogether should adopt the res- 
olution of the apostle, who thus expresses himself : 
" God forbid that I should glory, save in the 
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." " We preach 
Christ " in the dignity of his person, in the fullness 
of his love, in the excellence and the perfection of 
his sacrifice, and in the power of his Spirit — Christ 
first, Christ last, Christ the middle, Christ the be- 
ginning, Christ the end. Nothing will touch the 
heart of a child so soon or so deeply as to hear the 
story of the Babe of Bethlehem — of the Man of 
Sorrows on the hill of Calvary, in the tomb of 
Joseph of Arimathea ! Thus, then, let us commu- 



270 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



nicate instruction, and by knowledge labor to win 
the souls of the children. 

Secondly. We must do it by persuasion : for 
the soul is not only ignorant, but perverse. Its 
ignorance calls for illumination, and its perverse- 
ness and obstinacy call for entreaty and persuasion. 
Therefore we are to employ, as the means of per- 
suasion, every argument and motive that can be 
drawn from the soul, in all its value — the love of 
God in giving his Son in order to save it — the so- 
lemnities of death — a day of judgment — the glory 
of heaven, and the terrors of hell. Ton must take 
the unconvinced up to Mount Sinai, that he may 
gaze on the mountain burning with fire ; but you 
must take the humble and meek and penitent to 
Mount Calvary, and let the thunders of Sinai be 
quenched by the sweet accents of Calvary. Do 
not represent Sinai and Calvary as two hostile 
forts, but as two impregnable fortresses, to break 
down ignorance, depravity, and sin. An air of se- 
riousness, finely softened down with affectionate 
tenderness, is that which we ought to endeavor to 
cultivate. Never court a grin when you should 
win a soul. Seriousness of manner, combined with 
affection a teness of spirit, are the charms we are to 
employ — the artillery we are to command. We 
are to clothe our words with plainness, seriousness, 
and affection, that an impression may be made on 
the minds of those to whom we direct our instruc- 
tions. 

Once more. It is our duty to endeavor to win 
souls by admonition. It is said of the venerable 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



271 



Eli, who in many respects was an excellent charac- 
ter and a good man, that he did not admonish his 
children. It is necessary, sometimes, to rebuke 
with all authority and all earnestness ; and Eli 
whispered when he should have thundered, and 
was all blandness and softness when he should 
have been all authority and majesty. There are 
times when we should use all the authority which 
God and providence and grace have intrusted to 
us. Thus, by solemn admonition, as well as by 
gentle persuasion and the words of instruction and 
wisdom, we should endeavor to be instrumental 
in winning the souls of our fellow-creatures. 

But, thirdly, and lastly, I go on to stimulate you 
to this by the eulogium which the wise man in 

THE TEXT PRONOUNCES ON THE CONDUCT OF THOSE 

who win souls, " He that winneth souls is wise." 

Now, wisdom has very great reputation among 
mankind : it has so high a reputation that you 
cannot pay a man a higher compliment than to say 
lie is a wise man. Mankind have that feeling 
about the matter, and all are exceedingly sensitive 
about their reputation for wisdom and knowledge ; 
and hence, you cannot offer a fouler reproach, a 
more poignant or cutting stigma, to a man than to 
say of him that he is a fool : every man feels that 
the indignity is an intolerable one — one that can- 
not and will not be put up with. Such, then, is 
the reputation of wisdom— so high — so universal. 
Now, Solomon says, " He that winneth souls is 
wise." I know very well that men differ very 
much about what makes up wisdom. For instance, 



272 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



the politician considers that the knowledge of the 
art of government constitutes wisdom — that the 
man who is well versed in historical research in the 
history of nations, and understands the best mode 
of governing States and districts and empires, is 
the wise man. The philosopher considers the nat- 
uralist the wise man — he who knows all the sub- 
stances of the three great kingdoms of nature, ani- 
mal, vegetable, and mineral — who understands all 
their sympathies and antipathies, all their uses, all 
their good qualities and all their bad ones — who 
has taken the gauge of every substance in nature, 
from the sun down to the meanest atom that floats 
in the air, from the smallest insect that dances in 
the sunbeam to the gigantic elephant that stalks on 
the surface of the earth — who has studied nature 
and her laws, the chain of cause and effect, 
and can determine the relative value of one sub- 
stance to all other substances around it ; that is 
the man the philosopher supposes to be the wise 
man. Again : the moralist considers the knowl- 
edge of ethics as wisdom — that is, the knowledge 
that leads him to understand his own nature and 
the laws which are binding on society in general, 
and his duties and obligations toward God, his fel- 
low-creatures, and all rational and intelligent be- 
ings. Now, then, who does the Bible pronounce 
to be the wise man ? Is it your politician — versed 
in historic lore, competent to determine the fate of 
empires? Is it the naturalist or philosopher or 
chemist — the man that understands every thing in 
nature ? Is it the moralist ? Is it your ethical 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 273 



man? Is it your man who understands the laws of 
the different relations binding the different orders 
of society ? No, my friends. Who, then, does 
the scriptures pronounce to be the wise man? I 
will tell you — first, the man who saves his own 
soul ; and, secondly, the man who labors to save 
the souls of others. 

First. The Scriptures pronounce that man to be 
wise viho saves his own soul. That was a benevo- 
lent expression of the man Moses, which he uttered 
with regard to the Israelites ; when, after having led 
them for forty years during their peregrinations in 
the wilderness, he said, " O that they were wise ! " 
— In what sense ? "O that they understood this — 
that they would consider their latter end ! " The 
man who is wise for time, but not for eternity — ■ 
wise for business, but not for salvation — wise for 
the body, but not for the soul — is not a wise man. 
A man may be highly gifted — a man of talent ; well, 
call him so, and have done with it ; but call him 
not a wise man if he has not religion. A man 
may be rich and opulent ; but if he neglects his 
soul and religion, call him not a wise man, call 
him a rich man, and have done with it. A man 
may have the gift of eloquence— the power of 
persuasion and of moving others around him may 
be hid under his tongue ; very well ; say he is an 
eloquent man, and have done with it; but if a man 
has not religion he is not a wise man. No man is 
wise but the man who saves his soul and prepares 
for eternity. It will be found, hereafter, to have 

been the most egregious, the most monstrous, the 
18 



274 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



most atrocious folly in the universe, for a man to 
have neglected the interests of his soul — to have 
been absorbed in the claims of his body, the 
claims of commerce, the claims of business, or any 
other claims whatever, while he has neglected 
those of his soul. 

Secondly. The text pronounces that man to be 
wise that is instrumental in winning the souls of 
his fellow-creatures. I have not time to go into 
this ; but there are three views which I meant to 
have taken, to follow up this doctrine in the text. 
First, I meant to have shown you that such a man, 
in his conduct, is promoting the honor and glory 
of God, and on that account may fairly be pro- 
nounced a w T ise man. Secondly, that such a man 
connects himself with the coming in of the media- 
torial reign of our Immanuel, and on that account 
is to be termed a wise man. And, lastly, that the 
man who wins the souls of his fellow-creatures is 
the best friend of the human race, and most effect- 
ually promotes the welfare of mankind around 
him. Wherever souls are overlooked, there is a 
limit put to intellectual and social improvement, 
and ignorance becomes perpetuated. 

Perhaps you may ask, What is the advantage 
which results from all this Sabbath-school instruc- 
tion? The fact is that we are too impatient. In 
husbandry and benevolence matters are the same. 
In matters of husbandry and agriculture the farm- 
er has to wait for the return of his labor. The 
fact is, that the process of Bible education is 
going on ; and this Bible education is very much 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 275 



like the process of engraving. Engraving is a slow 
process : the engraver works upon the metal, and 
perhaps it is many days or weeks before the effects 
are visible on the surface, and not even after 
months of toil, unless you hold the surface in some 
particular direction, so that the light may fall upon 
it in some particular way. But the engraver goes 
on working at his task, and by and by, after 
weeks and months, it starts up at last like a thing 
of life. So it is with these children. Engraving 
is going on upon these souls. A moral, religious, 
and Bible education is being communicated to 
them by the instrumentality of this institution ; 
and we must not be too impatient as to the results 
that will follow. 

Again. Schools are of considerable value in 
producing habits of social order and the worship 
of God in many families who were strangers to it 
before. I was once at a meeting in Nottingham, 
when a man stood up to give an account of his 
conversion to God. Laying his hand upon the 
head of a boy who was by the side of him, he 
said : " This boy is my son, and this, my son, is 
my spiritual father. He went to your Sunday- 
school some years ago. One Sabbath evening, when 
he came home he said, 'Father, if I die before you 
and go to heaven, I am afraid I cannot stretch out 
my hand to welcome you there.' c Why not ? ' 
said the father, struck with the observation. 'Be- 
cause,' said the boy, s the teachers at the Sunday- 
school, and the Bible, and the preacher, all tell me 
that swearers, and Sabbath-breakers, and drunk- 



276 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



ards, living and dying such, must, in the next 
world, be in a state of torment.' " Conviction 
seized the mind of this man, as he told us ; he 
found his own way to the chapel ; and the im- 
pressions that were made upon him there, together 
with what his little boy had said, were the means, 
under God, of his conversion. 

I believe a great deal of this is going on now. I 
know that it is the order of nature for parents to 
teach their children ; but I know it is an order 
that the God of nature and grace often smiles upon 
and blesses, for the children to teach their par- 
ents. I do not mind how the matter goes on, so 
that it does go on. It is with this as it is with 
the dew. Some say that the dew falls down — 
that it comes from the sky ; but according to the 
most abstract and recondite philosophers, dew 
rises up from the earth — it ascends, and does not 
descend. I do not care whether it is down or up, 
or up or down, or down and up, or up and down, 
or both, so that it does but come, and enough of it, 
to refresh all the waste places of the earth. So 
with regard to knowledge : I do not care which 
way it is — whether it goes from the parents to 
the children, or from the children to the parents, 
or both ways — any way, every way — the more the 
better. 

Still you want to know what are the fruits? 
The fact is, we are only sowing the seed ; and the 
principles of virtue and piety which are cast into 
the minds of children remain there, concealed for 
a while ; but they will awaken in some new asso- 



The Wesley a?t Demosthenes. 277 



ciations of life, and then there will be all the har- 
vest you anticipate. I remember, some time ago, 
conversing with an individual who had been in 
Ireland, and who related the following fact to me. 
A little girl, of Catholic parents, found her way to 
the Protestant Sunday-school : there she made 
considerable progress, and she obtained a copy of 
the Testament as a present ; that Testament she 
read, felt, and understood. One day the priest 
came into the house, and saw the book on the 
table : he immediately laid his hands upon it, and 
said, "What is that?" "That," said the mother, 
" is a book that has been given to my little girl by 
somebody." The priest found out what the book 
was, proceeded to the fire, put it into the fire, and 
stood by till the element of destruction had com- 
pleted its work. The lit t le girl then burst into 
tears, because her Testament was burned ; and 
the mother wept, because she sympathized with 
her daughter; and while the mother and daughter 
were both in tears, this minister of mercy walked 
away. Well, the little girl felt so much for her 
mother that she turned to her and said, " Do not 
be so much distressed ; for although the priest has 
burned the Testament, I have got the first nine 
chapters of the Gospel of St. Matthew by heart, 
and they cannot burn them ! " Give the children 
that which cannot be burned. Amen. 



278 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



IX. 

OPENING BLIND EYES. 

"I the Lord will give thee for a light of the Gentiles; to 
open blind eves." — Isaiah xlii, 6, 7. 

What a grievous affliction is blindness ! An im- 
penetrable gloom is spread over the outward 
world, and the unhappy individual is cut off from 
all agreeable interest in it. It was, therefore, no 
frivolous boon which Christ, in the days of his 
sojourn on earth, thought proper to confer, when, 
in the external sense, he opened blind eyes. In 
the paragraph of which the text is a part, it is 
quite clear that Jehovah is describing the Messiah 
in his spiritual character and spiritual work; and 
that, great as the marvel of removing natural 
blindness was, and great as similar miracles were 
which Christ performed, their principal value con- 
sisted in their being expressions and revelations 
of the Omnipotent power and grace of Him that 
performed them — as symbols and pledges of those 
spiritual operations which he could accomplish on 
the souls of men. 

I must beg here to say, that I consider I have 
not the option of determining whether I shall ex- 
pound this passage in a physical or a spiritual 
sense. I consider myself shut up to the exposi- 
tion of it in the latter sense. I know no rule of 
interpretation of parallel Scriptures — of analogical 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



279 



expressions in Scripture — safe, or certain, except 
this, namely: that if any one particular sentence 
or paragraph requires to be explained in a physic- 
al, natural, or literal sense, every other portion 
of the same sentence or paragraph must be ex- 
plained in the same sense. On the other hand, if 
one part or parcel of a sentence must of necessity 
be explained in a metaphorical, moral, or evangelic- 
al sense, every other part or parcel of the same 
sentence or paragraph must be explained in the 
same way. Taking this rule of interpretation, 
then, I say, I am shut up at once to contemplate 
the language of the text in a moral, spiritual, and 
evangelical sense, and in that sense only. 

As to the whole of the paragraph, it is this : " I 
the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and 
will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give 
thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the 
Gentiles ; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the 
prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in 
darkness out of the prison-house." I shall not 
stop here to justify the application of this to the 
Messiah, although I am aware that critics have 
said it is applicable to Cyrus and to the prophet 
Isaiah himself. Some learned Jews have affirmed 
that it is applicable to the Jewish people taken 
collectively; but I do not now enter on any of 
these proposed meanings. The rightful meaning, 
undoubtedly, as all our heads and hearts at once 
feel, is exclusively confined to the Messiah himself . 
" I the Lord have called thee in righteousness^ 
and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and 



28o 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light 
of the Gentiles ; to open the blind eyes, to bring- 
out the prisoners from the prison, and them that 
sit in darkness out of the prison-house." 

Now, I pause for a moment to inquire whether 
the Messiah, in the days of his sojourn on earth, 
ever brought any prisoners out of the prison- 
house ? Did he ever open any prison doors, and 
emancipate any prisoners from the prison ? He 
never opened a prison door literally, physically, or 
politically ; that limb of the sentence, that mem- 
ber of the paragraph, therefore, must be inter- 
preted metaphorically, morally, spiritually, evan- 
gelically ; bat if that member must be so inter- 
preted, all the other members must be interpreted 
in the same mode ; and if any doubt lingered on 
my mind for the fraction of a moment further, as 
to the legitimacy of this application, it would be 
entirely removed by the recollection that the 
words of the text were addressed by Christ him- 
self to the principal instrument of preaching on 
an occasion the most interesting that ever occurred 
in the appointment of an instrument. But you 
are all beforehand with me in this. Of course I 
refer to the language addressed by Christ to Saul 
of Tarsus, when the light about him eclipsed the 
sun at noon day — when the voice fell upon him, 
and he fell down a bigot, a Pharisee, a persecutor, 
a b'asphemer, an injurious one, but rose up a peni- 
tent, a disciple, a believer, an apostle. Then these 
words were addressed to him : " I send thee to 
the Gentiles, to open their eyes, and to turn them 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 281 



from darkness to fight, and from the power of Sa- 
tan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness 
of sins, and inheritance among them which are 
sanctified." And whithersoever that principal in- 
strument of preaching went he opened men's eyes. 
He had a home-striking nervousness of speech. 
He had a well of feeling which was never ex- 
hausted. The dew of heaven lay on his faculties, 
the fire of heaven was on his tongue and on his 
lips — signs and wonders followed his preaching — 
eyes were opened ! souls were converted ! God 
was glorified ! 

If I were going to restrict the meaning of the 
text, I might be releasing some of you from the 
attention you might have been disposed to have 
given to it; had I descanted on the wondrous glo 
ries attendant on the removal of natural blindness, 
I can very well suppose that I should have had 
your utmost attention; for temporal evils excite 
more attention than spiritual evils, and temporal 
blessings than spiritual blessings. Men seek for 
the removal of temporal calamities much more 
earnestly than they do for the removal of spiritual 
calamities. A man dying in ignorance, perishing 
for lack of knowledge^ excites no sympathy ; and 
this is the case not merely with infidels. With 
them it was to be expected, because the principles 
we assume are by them altogether denied ; but 
we affirm it is the case with multitudes who pro- 
fess to b. lieve in the inspiration of the Bible, and 
to have confidence in the Divine origin of Christi- 
anity itself. Many of these reproach us with our 



282 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



enthusiasm, our folly, our fanaticism, in "turning 
the world upside down." 

No doubt we should relieve physical wretched- 
ness; no doubt we should wipe away the tear 
which falls; no doubt we should staunch the 
physical misery which streams ; no doubt we 
should visit our afflicted brother, to alleviate his 
temporal sorrows ; but what if we have done so ? 
Suppose we have watched him along the whole 
course of his earthly pilgrimage; suppose we have 
poured full many a sweet into his cup, and at- 
tended him to the last, but have done nothing* for 
him morally and spiritually, but just fed his body 
and clothed his flesh, and neglected his soul alto- 
gether, and there we have left him in the jaws of 
death without any hope, and, what is worse, with- 
out a title to heaven, or, indeed, any moral adap- 
tation to it. The man is gone ! This sentence 
now is passed ; it is irrevocable by prayers and 
tears. Now the folly and inconsistency of this 
can never be utterly explained away till you make 
out that the joys and the sorrows of the moment 
are equivalent to the jo>s and sorrows of eternity. 
But then it is said, "Why go to distant objects? 
Why do you not expend your enthusiasm and 
your energy on the objects of spiritual wretched- 
ness which are near you?" Well, I can only say, 
that if persons do lay out their sympathies with 
foreign spiritual misery — that if persons do allow 
the tide of their liberality to flow forth to the 
mitigation of that fearful aggregate of spiritual 
misery in pagan lands — I can only say, that if they 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 283 



exhaust the whole of their sympathies, and con- 
sume the whole of their energies in overtaking 
the distant spiritual horrors that prevail, and over- 
look the spiritual evils which are nearer them, I 
say, then, that this is an inconvenience arising out 
of directing so much attention to foreign objects, 
but I deny the force of the objection altogether. 
I maintain that the persons who do the most for 
the relief of foreign spiritual evils are the very 
persons that do the most for the relief of the 
whole spiritual wretchedness — they are the per- 
sons who do not wait for any romantic novel, or 
ostentatious scheme to be put before them ; they 
are the persous to go on with that painstaking 
which never intermits, that zeal which never cools, 
that energy which is never exhausted. In over- 
taking the spiritual wretchedness which is at home, 
they may not always come up with other persons, 
who, when such an appeal is made as requires a 
heart of stone to resist it — when there is any spur 
of ostentation, or scheme, or charm of novelty — 
step forward as if by some galvanic influence, ever 
and anon, to do something which appears to prom- 
ise the communication of good, but whose move- 
ments are so fitful that you can never account for 
them, or determine whether they proceed from 
principle, or whether they are hallowed by any 
religious motive. But I maintain again, that those 
who do the most for the relief of spiritual wretch- 
edness abroad are those who do most for the re- 
lief of spiritual wretchedness at home. 

I must now advert for a moment to the argu- 



284 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



ment which I passed away from, namely, that the 
habit of affording relief to spiritual wretchedness 
has a tendency to make men indifferent as to the 
relief of temporal wretchedness ; and hence we 
are told, that with all our missionary institutions, 
and so forth, there will be nothing done to feed 
the orphan and to clothe the naked. I will merely 
say, that where there is this charity to relieve 
spiritual calamities, it will, by a law of necessity, 
be so warmed and dilated as to extend itself to 
the alleviation of all the evils which afflict human- 
ity. Does not all history and all philosophy prove 
that man is naturally a selfish being, and that he 
has selfish habits and motives ? Cannot sin be 
overcome by some powerful influence upon the 
heart? What is this mighty destroyer of selfish- 
ness ? Is there any charm of scholarship, or of 
philosophical illumination, which will lay the de- 
mon of covetousness ? No ! Nothing can over- 
come, crush, and annihilate the inherent selfishness 
of human nature but a power which is mightier 
than itself, and which is found only in the benig- 
nant influence of the Christian religion ! A man's 
heart touched, moved, fermented, renovated by the 
Christian faith, is necessarily a charitable heart, 
and whatever evil afflicts humanity, its bodily or 
mental powers, or its moral condition — whatever 
ills afflict it in any of its great departments — touch 
the Christian, and he steps forward, with an angel's 
softness, I had almost said, to relieve that affliction, 
whether it be physical, mental, or moral. 

It is said by those who advocate institutions to 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 285 



relieve temporal afflictions, as opposed to those 
which relieve spiritual wretchedness — it is said by 
them that the good we propose to do of a temporal 
nature is certain, whereas the good attempted to 
he done of a spiritual nature is at best but prob- 
lematical. Now, I cannot stop to deal fully with 
this argument against us ; I can only say, that if 
it proves any thing it proves too much. Following 
that process of ratiocination, I might say, " You 
should not relieve a poor man, for you will per- 
haps lead him to neglect the performance of his 
own proper duties, and induce him to repose upon 
external aid ! " I might say, " You should not re- 
lieve a sick man, for you will thereby perhaps 
interfere with the duties of kindred which ought to 
meet his case." I might say, "You should not re- 
lieve a distressed tradesman in his embarrassment, 
for you may perhaps lead him to neglect a diligent 
application afterward." Nay, I might go further, 
and say, u You should not teach children, for the 
knowledge you convey may perhaps be perverted, 
and the ability you form and foster may be directed 
to purposes of mischief." Will you, then, allow 
the force of this reasoning ? No ! you will not 
break up your schools, because of the mere possi- 
bility that some boy may pervert the knowledge 
given in those schools — -you will not break up your 
almshouses, because by possibility some person 
may abuse the charity thus communicated , and 
if you will not admit the exceptions in such cases, 
why insist on the admission to the exceptions in 
the spiritual aspect of the question? I may just 



286 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



say two things here : in the first place, it is our 
duty to do all the good we can to the bodies and 
souls of men, but especially to their souls ; and, in 
the second place, I beg to say here, that if we per- 
form our duty to the utmost of our ability, depend- 
ing always for success on Him who is over all and 
above all, there is nothing more uncertain here 
than there is in every thing which lies in the womb 
of futurity. If we perform our duty, trusting in 
Him who has made it our duty, we shall not labor 
in vain ; for though we may " sow in tears, we shall 
reap in joy." 

I have to apologize for having departed in this 
manner from the subject itself in order to justify 
our application of the language of our text. I am 
aware that many persons have recourse to the 
objections I have stated ; they are brought for- 
ward as bugbears to frighten men from Christian 
associations, which have for their object the re- 
moval of spiritual wretchedness. I shall now, then, 
proceed to ask your attention, first, to the great 
calamity which has involved our race in spiritual 
blindness; secondly, I shall crave your attention to 
a remark on the great ordinance of Jehovah for the 
removal of this calamity; and, thirdly, I shall ask 
your indulgence while I make an observation or 
two on the grandeur of that operation of the 
Spirit, the power of Gocl, by which the removal of 
this spiritual blindness is effected. " I the Lord 
will give thee for a light of the Gentiles ; to open 
blind eyes." O that that stream of illumination 
may fall on this assembly ! Consider what I say, 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



287 



and may the Lord give you understanding in all 
things ! 

I. The calamity of spiritual blindness which 

HAS OVERTAKEN" OUR RACE. 

You would very greatly aggravate the evil of 
natural blindness by dilating on the numerous and 
diversified beauties of nature — on the splendor of 
those ethereal vaults, the firmament above us, 
those dots of beauteous light which garnish that 
firmament, the richness of the chaste moon walk- 
ing in her silvery brightness, on the regal magnifi- 
cence of the glorious sun in his mighty channel, 
on the beauty of what has been aptly designated 
" the human face divine," — if you dwell on this ex- 
ternal beauty, gracefulness, and loveliness, the 
more you go on with your descriptions of external 
beauty, the more you aggravate the calamity of 
natural blindness ; for the poor blind man sees 
none of these things ! But, O ! how much greater 
is the calamity by which the soul is excluded from 
the sight of the glory of God ! It is the soul 
which is struck with blindness. It is not the de- 
struction of the soul, or any part of it; it is not the 
destruction of the faculties — thank God ! the catas- 
trophe is not so serious as that — but it is the calam- 
ity of blindness triumphing in the midst of faculties 
otherwise noble, and rich, and glorious. Such a 
calamity must be regarded as an expression of 
Divine displeasure. God will not permit his glo- 
ries to be polluted by being gazed upon by that 
which is vile and abominable; hence we are led 
to observe : — 



288 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



1. That there is very high criminality connected 
with the origin of this spiritual blindness. The 
Divine displeasure never arises without a cause, or 
beyond the cause. What, then, must have been 
the cause which led to such a fatal condition ? 
And here I have to ask the question, and state the 
fact — the simple, incontestable, and melancholy 
fact is, that man has sinned ! Here I am led to 
inquire whether he had not a difficulty as to keep- 
ing the law of his Creator, (or was he broken 
down in his feelings,) to account for his thus dash- 
ing against the throne of his lawgiver? Had he 
any pain which weakened his moral nature ? Was 
there any sorrow which debilitated his intellectual 
or. moral energies ? What was his condition ? So 
far from that, I find that he was in the enjoyment 
of the image of God in high perfection ; that he 
was walking about, lord of Eden; that he had 
dominion over the realms of nature ; that he was in 
Christ-like purity, consummate felicity, with no 
tale of want or sorrow ; and that lie did, while in 
that condition, dash the ship on the rock, and 
bankrupted himself and all his posterity ! I do 
not propose to stop here to answer any of those 
cavilings which have been brought forward as to 
the scriptural narrative of the origin of this spirit- 
ual blindness, feeling that, in this place and on 
this unique occasion, I am relieved from the neces- 
sity of dealing with such objections. 

2. I now stop, further, just to observe, that as 
there was high criminality connected with the 
origin of this blindness, so there is high criminality 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 289 



connected with t T ie continuance of it. If men, 
struck with this blindness, were to humble them- 
selves on account of it ; if they were on their knees, 
weeping for their catastrophe which has overtaken 
them ; if I found them agonizing for the removal 
of this calamity, it would be some alleviation of 
the matter. But, generally, I find men taking ad- 
vantage of their blindness, and receding farther 
and farther from God ; and, indeed, many of them 
seem never to be so completely happy as when 
they have most effectually succeeded in banishing 
all thought of God, and all consideration of his 
existence. Ah, yes ! every- where I find men, as 
I have said, not deprived of their faculties, but I 
find them perverting the use of their faculties. 
They have faculties by which they can accumulate 
physical, literary, scientific, and political knowl- 
edge ; but I find that very knowledge, to the un- 
converted man, has the effect of moral poison ; it 
often puffs up and encourages him. 

3. I go one step farther, and say, that this spirit- 
ual blindness is so complete that it leads a man to 
pervert the very instruments which God has ap- 
poirited for its removed. They give themselves up 
to sin by a perverted use of the Scriptures — the 
very book wilich should be a " light unto their 
feet, and a lamp unto their path," that very book, 
by the action of this blindness, is turned into an 
instrument for augmenting vanity. 

4. I will now just ask you to go with me, and 
take an observation of the state of mankind mound 
us, and see whether or not it sustains this descrip- 

19 



290 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



tion. Mankind are divided into Jews and Gentiles. 
What is the state of the Gentiles ? I shall ask not 
for any learning on your part to ascertain that 
darkness. In characterizing the Gentile nations, I 
bring forward no learning on my own part to sub- 
stantiate it. I ask you to go along with the great 
preacher whose name I mentioned in the beginning. 
Accompany him in some of his journies, and watch 
the condition in which he found the people every- 
where; and then accompany some of your own 
missionaries to the scenes of their labors, and listen 
to their accounts of the moral condition of the 
people they went to. I find Paul going down to a 
place called Lystra, where they absolutely said he 
was a divinity, and proceeded to worship him. 
They called aloud to the priests of the city to bring 
oxen and adorn them with garlands, and to make 
haste; for it was a great day, for the gods had 
come down among; them. What blindness ! When 
he came to Athens, going along that abode of 
learning and folly — for they go strikingly together, 
sometimes — going along the streets of that city, 
he says, "I beheld an altar with this inscription, 
1 To the unknown God, 5 " as if this admission of 
their ignorance were better than all their preten- 
sions to knowledge. There were some men — there 
are many among the Gentiles — whose notion of 
God was that he did not concern himself about the 
inhabitants of this world; such was the notion of 
the Epicurean philosophers, and such is the notion 
of some of our own philosophers; but if you come 
to that conclusion you will have no religion at all. 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 291 



On the other hand, they would have gods almost 
innumerable — for valleys, fountains, towns, villages 
— hateful, changeful, passionate, unjust, revengeful 
— take a heathen man, with all his heathen habits 
and vices, and clothe him with immortality, and 
you have a heathen God ! 

But I need not dwell on the state of the Gen- 
tiles: just turn, for a moment, to the condition of 
the Jews, either at the time of Christ's arrival, or 
at the present time, or at any intervening period 
you may think proper to mention. When Christ 
came, they had lost the true idea of God; where 
the idea of God is not pure, the people are not 
disciples. It is not the power of God which is so 
distasteful, for men are fond of power ; neither is 
God disliked for his wisdom, which they are not 
averse to ; but the thing in God which is distasteful 
to man, whether Jew or Gentile, is his spirituality ! 
The Jews had lost the idea of God; they had 
no idea of his mercy, holiness, and spirituality. 
"Darkness covered the world, and gross darkness 
the minds of the people." I shall pass away 
from any description of the state of the Gentile 
nations at the present moment ; but the fact is, 
that darkness still covers the Gentile nations in 
general. That darkness came abroad from Egypt. 
As it passed through different countries it under- 
went some changes, according to the climates and 
physiological differences of the inhabitants of these 
climates. The darkness altered its phases, but 
never diminished in its blackness. I will now re- 
mark on the next part of the subject:— 



292 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



II. The great ordinance of Jehovah^ for the 

REMOVAL OF THIS CALAMITY. 

In order that I may not trespass too much on 
your time I shall restrict myself here, confining 
my remarks to the light which Christ throws on 
the character of God above us — providence around 
us — immortality before us — and the spirituality re- 
quired within us. 

1. See what light He has thrown on the charac- 
ter of God! When he was on earth he spoke 
with the voice of a man, he saw with the eyes of a 
man, he felt with the nerves of a man. God mani- 
fest in the flesh, standing on earth, looking up to 
heaven, stretched forth his hand, and appealed to 
God, when he said, " Father, I have manifested 
thy name, I have declared it, and I will declare it." 
u No man hath seen God at any time : the only- 
begotten of the Father, he hath revealed him." 
O ! those works — " He hath revealed him ! " 
Heathenism, philosophy, political sagacity, worldly 
wisdom, in all their varieties, never could penetrate 
the clouds round about the throne of the Eternal; 
but Christ, "the only-begotten of the Father, he 
hath revealed him." Jesus Christ has given us 
the true character of God. He has given him out 
as a God of love — as a father waiting for the re- 
turn of a prodigal son, looking down the road, 
watching his approach, hastening to meet him, 
falling on his neck and kissing him ; and the mo- 
ment the prodigal confesses his sins, the father says 
to the servants, " bring forth the best robe, and 
put it on him ; put a ring on his finger, and shoes 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 293 



011 his feet;" and in that one revelation of God 
what beauties shine ! — what interest ! God sent 
his Son, not to condemn the world, but that the 
world through him might be saved. " God so 
loved the world that he gave his only-begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not 
perish, but have eternal life." Read that beautiful 
episode between Isaac and Abraham, when God 
told Abraham to offer his son Isaac. Isaac said, 
on the way, " Father, here is the wood, and the fire, 
and the knife, but where is the lamb ? " That is 
the question ! Where is the lamb ? u My son," said 
Abraham, "God will provide himself a lamb," 
in the Welsh version it is rendered, tl God will 
look unto himself for the lamb." Anywhere else 
he would have looked in vain ; his own son was 
the lamb, panting to be offered up. Man lays on 
the altar, bound for justice, which must be satis- 
fied, while the voice of infinite mercy is heard, and 
justice laid not its hand on man, for a lamb was 
provided ! Man was saved and blessed, while 
Christ was offered. As a lamb, he endured all the 
penalty of our sin ; he drank the cup, he exhausted 
it, and plunged the empty cup into the river 
of the water of life ! He tasted death for every 
man. 

2. Let me now ask your attention while I con- 
sider, for a moment, the light which He has thrown 
on the providence around us. The difficulties of 
the virtuous, and the shouting success of the villain- 
ous, almost seemed, to conscientious men, to indi- 
cate very bad management on the part of God to 



294 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



allow this discrepancy, and they have had re- 
course to a great many theories in order to ex- 
plain it. 

I shall not stop to trouble you with theories 
which the heathen had to solve the enigma, which 
the things around presented, in the successes of the 
villainous whom they considered most abominable ; 
but Christ has thrown light on the afflictions 
which happen to the people of God. They have 
not flesh made of sterner stuff than other men's 
flesh — their goods may be rapidly consumed in the 
flames of a conflagration as the goods of other 
men — their children may be carried away by means 
of fevers and consumption, as well as the children 
of other men. "Many are the afflictions of the 
righteous ; " but Christ has thrown light on this 
matter. Now, when God comes forth with his 
chastisement it is but as a visiting God, who will 
leave us in a richer state, and in a better mood, 
with regard to him as presiding over all these 
things, pressing them all into our real welfare. 
The state of order, beauty, and harmony which 
characterized our world at first has been disturbed 
by sin, which has thrown all into confusion and 
disorder; and now we find that, in order to rectify 
nil, a mediator is provided to arrange matters; and 
He does not merely act the part of a propitiatory, 
and an atoning sacrifice, but all things are put un- 
der his management. There he sits behind a visi- 
ble screen-work of second causes, touching the 
springs of providence, regulating all the move- 
ments of his people, like the musician when he 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 295 



touches the springs of an instrument with such 
delicacy that he scarcely knows himself to be 
touching them, yet out rushes the melody. Christ 
sits on high, pressing all his influence into the 
cause of his Church. The light of the Gospel may 
well be called a marvelous light. Now our horizon 
is dark and cloudy, but we behold a bright spot in 
the center; and that beautiful spot is traveling 
toward the circumference, and the whole cloud 
will presently become luminous; "and all things 
shall work together for good to them that walk 
uprightly." 

3. I might here beat out the gold leaf, and un- 
lap its petals ; but I forbear, and just observe 
that Christ has thrown light not merely on God 
above us, and on providence around us, but on 
that immortality which is before us. Look, then, 
at the poor heathen who still fall down and wor- 
ship the workmanship of their own hands, gazing 
forward to that beautiful island where they will 
in future live with the Great Spirit. In their 
broken accents we find the remains of the inward 
consciousness of a future immortality which God 
has stamped on the human heart. These poor 
heathen expect to get this immortality by sacri- 
fices and offerings, and hence they drink out of the 
skulls of their enemies; but Christ has "brought 
immortality to light by the Gospel." He tells us 
that heaven is not to be got at by any sacri- 
fices of ours. God has no appetite for bloody of- 
ferings ; Christ tells us that immortality is just 
another gift from him who is infinite in goodness, 



296 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



and that the gift of immortality is by Christ the 
Mediator. Look at the case of the children of 
Israel ; they had finished their forty years' journey 
in the wilderness — they began to see the green 
fields of Canaan while the Jordan rolled between, 
and till they got over it they did not actually come 
into the promised land. How did they get over 
it without bridges, boats, or fords ? They are now 
drawn out on the side of the river — while standing 
there, the priests come forward with the ark of 
the covenant, and go down with it to the water. 
When they touched the stream the waters divided, 
and they passed over. When they had all got 
over — drove after drove, and family after family — 
when the last man of the last tribe had gone over, 
the priests themselves went over, and when the 
last priest reached the shore the waters rolled to- 
gether, and they were all in the land of spices, the 
land of the promises — Canaan ! Thus, you see, 
"Christ is the way, the truth, and the life." Sal- 
vation, therefore, is not to be obtained by sacri- 
fices ; but Christ, "having overcome the sharpness 
of death, hath opened the kingdom of heaven to 
all believers ! " 

4. Let us now dwell, for a moment, on the light 
Christ has thrown on the spiritualities which are 
required within us. " lam the light of the world," 
he says ; and tohen did he say this ? In the morn- 
ing at an early hour — for he was early engaged at 
his work — he was found early in the temple speak- 
ing to the people. The Pharisees, too, were there 
early at the work of detraction. They brought 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 297 



to him a woman taken in adultery, and craved a 
deliverance from him touching her case. But lie 
" wrote on the ground." What it was that he 
wrote we clo not know, and the persons present 
probably did not : but he wrote something on 
their conscience ; they knew what that was ; and 
they went away one after another. They felt the 
hand of a master rifling their bosoms of all their 
secrets. Away they went ; and, as they went, 
Christ called out, u Woman, where are those 
thine accusers ? hath no man condemned thee ? " 
and she said, " No man, Lord." Then Jesus said 
unto her, u Neither do I condemn thee ; go, and 
sin no more." Then it was that he said, u I am the 
light of the world : he that followeth me shall 
not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of 
life," I can comprehend how it is that a philoso- 
pher might come even out of the kraal of the Hot- 
tentot, or an astronomer from some band of ma- 
rauders in a barbarous region ; but how a saint 
comes out of a sinner, how the beauties of holi- 
ness gather about human nature, how the sin gets 
cut and the holiness gets in, how the heir ot 
heaven supplies the place of the heir of hell, this 
I cannot comprehend ; but we know that Christ 
is the light of the world. 1 do not wonder that 
when he delivered his Sermon on the Mount — that 
exquisite description of purity and spirituality — I 
do not wonder, as the people descended the mount- 
ain side, that they should say, '* Never man spake 
as this man ; for he spake as one having authority, 
and not as ihe scribes." If we were to see the 



298 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



most beautiful eastern flowers growing in our 
northern latitude, developing all their beau ies 
around us, we should be surprised. If we found 
them crawling on the margin of a volcano, as on 
the ashes round a furnace, we should be surprised 
and astonished ; but to see the beauties of holiness 
growing in this sinful world, on the very margin 
of hell itself, this is a spectacle ! " But Christ is a 
light unto the Gentiles, and he that follows him 
shall not walk in darkness." Go out into the green 
fields, and behold the little dew-drop as it glistens 
on the ears of corn, looking up to the sun, and 
asking him to kiss it, and impart some new chem- 
ical properties to it. Now it gradually finds its 
way clown the stem to the root, strengthening, 
supporting, and extending ; and we have soon the 
full corn in the ear. That is the way God works 
with matter. See him at work with light in the 
morning, when the sun is coming forth from his 
chambers, beautifying creation — shedding his beau- 
teous coloring before him, that we may behold where 
he is. He goes up and on till he reaches his meri- 
dian splendor. But to see God working on the soul, 
on spiritual substances, getting the blindness away 
and the light in— sin away and salvation in ! But 
I cannot stop to describe the process at length, nnd 
shall only notice one or two stages of it. 

First of all, there is a conviction of spiritual 
blindness. This is not what they have naturally. 
They say they see, and are not in want of any thing. 
They say they are rich, blessed with the powers 
of vision, and every thing else. But now comes 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 299 



the law with its living fires ; it is a flaming beacon 
in our world, lifting up a majestic voice in favor 
of holiness, and spirituality, and justice of the one 
sovereign Lawgiver, Creator, and Judge. The 
law flashes in the conscience of the sinner, drags 
him here, presses him there, and chases him yon- 
der, removing all the envelopes about him, and, 
coming down upon him, it says, " Thou art the 
man ! " Preaching does this. Sometimes it ef- 
fects it in multitudes of persons at once, as on 
the day of Pentecost, when " three thousand were 
pricked to the heart," — convicted on the spot. 
And we want this power — we want these con- 
versions — one here and another there ; now they 
happen by units, then it was by thousands. God 
grant that this rapid multiplication may commence 
among us here ! 

When this conviction of spiritual blindness takes 
place, there conies an earnest cry for its removal, 
like the cry of those two blind men by the way- 
side. They heard the Light-bringer was in the 
road, and these two blind men lifted up their 
voices, and cried, saying, " Jesus ! thou Son of 
David, have mercy on us! " And when this earn- 
est cry comes, it is a very rapid movement then. 
With Christ to hear was to feel ; the blind men 
came and received their sight. Now, do not, there- 
fore, be afraid of sudden conversions when they 
occur. You should of course examine them, to 
prevent deceptive appearances ; but sudden con- 
versions are not impossible, nay, more, they are 
not improbable. 



300 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



Look at that man running up the tree there to 
get a sight of Jesus ! that publican, to whose house 
he afterward went. In goes the Life-bringer, 
the Salvation-bringer ! and almost immediately he 
opens his coffers, and says if he has wronged any 
man he will restore unto him fourfold. Look at 
that woman weeping at Jesus' feet, and washing 
them with her tears. O, when the life comes, it is 
speedy; as in the beginning many preparatory 
steps have been gone through, but the introduction 
of the light is quick and powerful. Now comes 
the joy of deliverance, which is equivalent to the 
previous gloom ; it is equal to all the previous 
wretchedness. For my part, I do not wonder, 
that, when a man gets this light into his soul, he 
should be overjoyed. You remember the story of 
a young woman who lived to the age of eighteen 
without seeing at all. Dr. Boyle watched the per- 
formance of an operation upon her, and he has de- 
scribed, as only a philosopher could describe, what 
took place. For some time they were afraid she 
would lose her reason, so overcome w\as she by 
the innumerable beauties which so suddenly burst 
in upon her. If Boyle had been an emperor, it 
would have been worth his while to have watched, 
and written down the sensations of this young 
woman, and also his own sensations, when watch- 
ing the process by which a young woman who had 
reached her eighteenth year received her sight. 
Sir Isaac Newton himself, when a flash of light, 
shooting in upon his intellectual vision, revealed 
a great law of nature, his intellect was so much 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 301 



excited that he could not go on. He reveled, and 
was intoxicated with intellectual joy; and he 
handed, over the question to cooler minds, to trace 
out its after stages. And if he reveled in the 
glories of increased intellectual vision — shall we 
not allow this joy in a girl bursting from eighteen 
years of physical blindness ? If Isaac Newton felt 
the ecstasies of intellectual light, shall we not 
allow it when the light of salvation flashes in on 
the dark mind of a poor sinner? What power 
there is in the word of God, preached — yes, 
preached! — it is like the electric fluid; you cannot 
calculate the rapidity of its action. How is that 
electric fluid produced? It is said, you must take 
certain substances and place them in certain rela- 
tions to each other ; and unless they are all there, 
you will have no electricity. Some say preaching 
alone will not do it; but I say it is your living 
word, through a living agent, which is the primary 
means — the short solution of apostolical success. 
The hand of the Lord was with them, and multi- 
tudes believed and turned to the Lord. I do not 
think a person just converted is able to give a very 
minute account of the beauty which comes stream- 
ing in upon his soul — the glories of redemption, 
or the grandeur of immortality — but he has a feel- 
ing of the general luster streaming in. "This is 
life eternal; to know thee, the only true God, 
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." This 
illumination is produced by humiliation of soul, 
as in ihe case of the patriarch Job, who, when 
his soul was swelling with pride, challenged the 



302 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



Almighty to observe his case. But as the Lord 
showed him his grandeur as physical Creator, he 
stopped at every stage of it, and the impression 
produced was, " As is his power, so is his holiness ; 
and as is his greatness, so is his mercy;" and at 
length, when Job had been conducted round the 
cycle, he said, " I have heard of Thee by the hear- 
ing of the ear; but now mine eyes seeththee: 
wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and 
ashes." The same effect was produced in a case 
inferior to Job's ; but I am encroaching on your 
time, and must hasten to a conclusion. 

In the first place, let us pour out a lamentation 
over the spiritual wretchedness of mankind. O, 
how many of our fellow-creatures are sitting in 
the regions of the valley of the shadow of death! 
Put on the wheels of mercy to travail in birth for 
them. You cannot remedy their case by mere 
intellectual tutorship, or political orthodoxy, or 
civilizing processes. I do not say you cannot 
ameliorate their condition by such agencies. You 
may take away the external roughness, but civili- 
zation and scholarship are powerless in the soul: 
Christianity alone u will make all things new." 
The heathen have received the light and rejoiced 
in it, and swell out the praise of the Light-bringer, 
by whom they have been translated from the king- 
dom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear 
Son. What light has been thrown on the charac- 
ter and providence of God in your lives ! What 
streams of illumination of that immortality have 
reached your soul! Do not let your religion be 



The Weslcyan Demosthenes. 



303 



so stinted, your acknowledgments of bis greatness 
so measured ; swell out the praises of the Light- 
bringer ! 

Perhaps some of you, who have come here on 
this great day — some of you, who have come here 
to further the movement for sending out light to 
distant lands, are yet yourselves in the dark ! 
Your own souls, perhaps, are dark — dark nmid the 
blaze of Gospel day ! If the light which is in you 
be darkness, how great is that darkness ! O, thou 
poor blind sinner ! send up your cry before the 
shades of eternal darkness envelop thee ! And 
here I am reminded of one of the sayings of that 
illustrious man in whose house I am permitted to 
stand. He describes the sinner as a poor blind 
man led by a dog with a string. He gropes on 
and on, and at last puts his stick into a vacancy, 
and he is gone ! O, you poor blind sinner, then 
do not take another step in the dark! But I must 
pass away from you, and before my voice ceases — 
before this service closes — cry to the Son of David 
to have mercy on thee ! And you that have the 
light, take care that you use your utmost efforts to 
diffuse it. Not mental light ! No ! no ! We do 
not get light merely from the sun, but by the aid 
of reflecting bodies — light streams from the great 
orb of day, falls on the reflecting bodies, and it is 
struck off again ; but when it falls on black sub- 
stances, it is absorbed. When it falls ou light 
surfaces, it is not all absorbed, some of it is re- 
flected. And I call on you Christian people, 
"Arise and shine, for your light is come ! 55 



304 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



x. 

THE JUDGMENT. 

" And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now 
commandeth all men every- where to repent : because he hath 
appointed a day, in the which lie will judge the world in right- 
eousness by that man whom he hath ordained ; whereof he 
hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him 
from the dead." — Acts xvii. 30, 31. 

There are some religious truths — we may call 
them religious from their general bearing and 
character — to which the light of reason seems to 
assist us in some degree, and which w^e draw, in 
the way of inference, from what we call the light 
of nature. In this way we make some inferences 
concerning the being and natural perfections of 
God, if not concerning some of his moral perfec- 
tions. u The invisible things of God " ai*e, in some 
degree, declared, revealed, or confessed by the 
things that are visible. The works of God, over- 
shadowed as they are by what has befallen our 
world, in consequence of the moral revolution 
which has been perpetrated by its inhabitants — 
the works of God, in some sort, reveal the charac- 
ter of God. But all the notices which are con- 
veyed by the light of nature, and all the deduc- 
tions that we are able to make by the processes of 
reasoning, are, after ail, ambiguous, feeble, fallible, 
and comparatively uninfluential. There is a vail 
upon the understanding of man, and the hiero- 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 305 



glyphical character of truth concerning God, our- 
selves, our responsibility, futurity, eternity, are 
but little read by the thoughtless, depraved, fever- 
ish, fallen sons of men. Therefore, how thankful 
we should be for this book, which speaks so forci- 
bly, clearly, strongly, distinctly — so distinctly, 
that if there previously existed a perversion, by 
reason of some false system of education, the 
truth must be apprehended if the book be read 
carefully and meditated upon. Here u life and 
immortality are brought to light ; " and the doc- 
trine of our accountableness to God stands out 
clearly on the page of revelation ; such a sort of 
relievo is given to it on the surface of the book, 
that, wherever we look in the volume of inspira- 
tion — the incontrovertible fact, the eloquent fact 
of our accountableness to God, meets our atten- 
tion. 

These words, which I have read for our medita- 
tion, were spoken by a remarkable person, and in 
a remarkable place, to a remarkable auditory. 
The preacher who uttered these words w T as Paul — 
a man brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, at the 
feet of Divine truth, much taught of man, but much 
more taught of God; a man of great faculties, 
lofty powers, vast acquirements, distinguished 
courage, unquenchable ardor, singular fortitude 
nnd patience; a man that never quailed before his 
enemies, that never altered the truth to make it 
palatable to an audience ; a man that preached so 
that judges, and princes, and philosophers trembled 

beneath his convincing and Forcible statements of 
20 



306 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



the truth. These words were spoken in a remark- 
able place ; for they were delivered in Athens — a 
proud city, a learned city, a renowned city, a city 
of philosophers. And they were delivered to a 
remarkable auditory, consisting of poets, philoso- 
phers, legislators, orators. 

In addressing these people, the apostle tirst of 
all — as the great fundamental truth of all religion, 
the foundation of all morality, the basis of all vir- 
tue — asserts the supremacy of God. He is led to 
make a declaration of this from that which he 
witnessed in walking about their city: " Ye men 
of Athens," said he, "I perceive that in all things 
ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and 
beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this 
inscription, To the unknown God" That is, 
ye are so much given to the worship of idols, ye 
are so solicitous to worship all sorts of gods, that, 
for fear ye should overlook any, ye have actually 
an altar " to the unknown God." Then the apos- 
tle, from that discovery, from that fact, sets forth 
to them the whole truth concerning God — con- 
cerning themselves — concerning the world — con- 
cerning the judgment to come. " Whom there- 
fore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you 
— God that made the world and all things there- 
in." This was a mode of speech they were not 
accustomed to; this was a style of address sur- 
prising to them : the apostle h( j re speaks of one 
God. " God that made the world, and all things 
therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and 
earth, dwelling not in temples made with hands ; 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes, 307 



neither worshiped with men's hands" — that is, 
images of gold, wood, iron, or stone, however 
curionsly carved or wrought by the art of man. 
" God is not worshiped with men's hands, as 
though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to 
nil life, and breath, and all things ; and hath made 
of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all 
the face of the earth, and hath determined the 
times before appointed, and the bounds of their 
habitation ; that they should seek the Lord," — 
here he comes to the practical bearing of this 
truth which he had before declared — "that they 
should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel 
after him, and find him, though he be not far from 
every one of us: for in him we live" — O, yes! 
there is no man who does not live in God. The 
wicked man lives in God; and there is a sense in 
which even the devil lives in God. We all live in 
him, we have our existence by his will. "For in 
him we live, and move, and have our being." 
And in order to bespeak their attention still fur- 
ther, he shows an intimate acquaintance with their 
own writers, and ci;es passages from their own 
writers which they were in the habit of referrino* 
to. " As certain also of your own poets have said, 
For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch, then, 
as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to 
think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, 
or stone, graven by art and man's device." And. 
then comes the text: "And the times of this icmo- 

ZD 

ranee"— that is, the state in which men do suppose 
that God is to be worshiped by images—" the 



308 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 

times of this ignorance God winked at : " not that 
he connives at sin or evil in any place ; but God, 
in some sort, may be said to have winked at the 
former times of ignorance and error. When we 
think of the prevalence of idolatry and supersti- 
tion, we are apt to ask, Where is the wisdom of 
this state of things ? And when we think of dark- 
ness having covered the earth so long, we are apt 
to say, Where is the mercy of suffering whole na- 
tions for centuries and millenniums to know not the 
worship of the true God ? We are tempted to ask, 
Where is the justice of suffering millions of im- 
mortal beings to be buried in the shades of idola- 
try and superstition ? But all these questions are 
met and silenced by the apostle in the text. 14 And 
the times of this ignorance God winked at." He 
will not call the men who lived in them to such a 
reckoning as he will call us : they had not the 
revelation you now have. But, though u the times 
of this ignorance God winked at, he now com- 
mandeth all men every-where to repent : because 
he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge 
the world in righteousness, by that man whom he 
hath ordained ; whereof he hath given assurance 
unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the 
dead." 

I propose, first, to notice what God commanded ; 
and then, secondly, why he commanded it : what 
he commanded of " all men every-where to re- 
pent ; " and why he commanded them — "because 
he hath appointed a day " of judgment, in which 
every person will be tried at the bar of God. 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 309 



I. I do not intend to occupy much of your 
time on the first point — as to what God com- 
mands. 

1. He hath commanded men " to repent," he hath 
commanded all men " every- where to repent," now. 
He addresses idolaters, that they should renounce 
their idolatry, abandon their false gods, and be- 
come worshipers of the true God ; that now the 
true God has declared they shall immediately bow 
down before him ; and that instead of being se- 
duced any longer by the lying vanities of Pagan- 
ism, they should yield the homage of their spirits 
to the living and true God. You and I have 
not to repent in that sense : our forefathers had. 
When the first heralds of salvation alighted on our 
shores, they had to call on our forefathers to repent 
of their Druidical superstitions, as Paul had to 
call on these Athenian philosophers — idolaters — to 
repent. But now, blessed be God ! their summons 
has so echoed amid the valleys of our island, 
their summons has now so prevailed, that there is 
not an altar of Druidical worship to be found ; 
there is not such a shrine at which a single human 
being is performing his devotions. This is the 
triumph gained by our holy religion. 

But there is another sense in which God calls us 
to repent. You know, that by nature and prac- 
tice you are sinners, guilty of rebellion against 
God, guilty of treason against the majesty on high 
— that you have displeased God from your heart, 
and that you have in your heart idols. For, after 
all, idolatry may exist in the heart of an Indian or 



3io The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



a Briton — in the heart of a Druid or of a nominal 
Christian who has no experimental acquaintance 
with " the truth as it is in Jesus," and who has 
never thrown off his sins by an individual and vol- 
untary repentance. 

2. Now, the radical meaning of repentance, its 
great and primary sense, is change — change of 
mind, change of disposition, change of conduct. 
When we are converted, God is regarded by us 
in a very different light to that in which he was 
regarded when we were living in a state of sin. 
If we allow the abstract omnipresence of God, still 
we fritter away the force of it by saying he is 
above regarding our conduct or ways — that he 
would not be severe to punish, nor strict to mark 
our obliquities, our errors, our failures. But when 
our views alter, God appears as a holy God, faith- 
ful and true, as well as a merciful God and a loving 
God. Our views alter also as to the law of God. 
While we are living in sin we have partial views ol 
the law of God ; we regard the mere letter of it, 
and pervert and twist it to suit our own depraved 
habits. But when we repent, the commandment 
comes home, the law assumes another aspect ; it 
then appears " holy, and just, and good ; " we are 
no longer satisfied with allowing the force of the 
letter of it, but we admit the spirit of it. We then 
come to understand, that " if a man looketh on a 
woman to lust after her, he hath committed adul- 
tery with her already in his heart," — " that if a 
man is angry with his brother, he is a murderer." 
We come, now, to take quite different views of 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 311 



the law of God, very different views of sin, which 
was thought often to be a trifle, an accidental 
evil, an obliquity, more to be pitied than blamed 
— a thing, somehow or other, incorporated with 
our faculties and mixed up with our very es- 
sence, and for which we are more to be excused 
than condemned. # But when we repent, we have 
no such covering for sin ; sin, then, appears a hate- 
ful and an abominable thing, and we would tear it 
from our bosom, and abhor it as an accursed thing. 
Our views of Christ change also ; he is appre- 
hended in a very different style to that in which 
he was apprehended before. He is, now, " all our 
salvation and all our desire ; " he now appears 
" our wisdom, righteousness, sanctificatioiL and re- 
demption ; 5? light, life, all in all. There is, in short, 
a total alteration of our views. 

Some persons accuse us poor preachers of dis- 
turbing the minds of our hearers when persons are 
alarmed under the ministry of the Gospel. The 
very purpose for which it was sent was to alarm 
men's minds, and it fails altogether when it does 
not alarm. When the ministry of the Gospel 
alarms the sinner, he sees its workings going on in 
his bosom : it comes out before his friends and 
companions ; they ask him why he should sacrifice 
himself to that sort of teaching which disturbs and 
agitates him? Why, my friends, ice do not brin^ 
the things there that are discovered — it is the light 
that reveals them ; they were all there before — it 
is the light that falls upon things — and then they 
appear in a very different manner; and the minis- 



312 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



try of the Gospel is designed and constituted to 
make the darkness light, to convince the sinner, 
and to awaken the impenitent. I pray God, and 
hope in God, that some sinner — why should I say 
some one sinner? why not many, many ? for many 
here are sinners — may be pricked to the heart ! 
and that they may undergo, e^en while they are 
listening to the sound of the Gospel from the lips 
of the preacher, this change and experience, this 
repentance. 

3. Then, there is a change of disposition, conse- 
quent upon a change of view and change of mind. 
That which before was hated is now loved ; the 
Bible that before was disliked is now venerated ; 
the Saviour that before was denied is now believed 
and accepted ; religion, which before was thought 
to be something suitable only for the aged, sick, 
infirm, dying people, now appears as the "one 
thing needful." Then, there is a change of con- 
duct : for if the mind is changed, and the disposi- 
tion is changed, the behavior is changed. Hence, 
that great preacher, John the Baptist, when he 
preached to the people in the wilderness, told them 
to " bring forth fruits meet for repentance:" he 
told the soldiers to be gentle and moderate, and to 
be " content with their wages ; " he told the pub- 
licans to cultivate honesty, and to extort no more 
than was plainly due, and insisted upon practical 
proof. This is the case wherever the Gospel 
takes hold of the heart : it changes the heart, re- 
news the mind, and you are at once renewed. If 
the tree be good, the fruit must be good : make 



The Wesley 'an Demosthenes. 3 1 3 

the fountain sweet, and the waters that gush from 
it must be sweet too. 

God, then, commancleth men to repent. He 
commandeth all men — the poor and the rich — 
kings and their subjects — the young, the middle- 
aged, and the old. The young, I shall not ad- 
dress myself particularly to you to-night, because 
I have not time nor opportunity ; but you remem- 
ber what we said to you not a long time ago — that 
you must not live under the fallacy that religion is 
not suitable to you. The middle-aged. They, in- 
deed, say they have no time for religion, they are 
iso involved in the business of life. The great bus- 
iness of life is to be concerned for the soul and to 
prepare for judgment. Why, a man will find that 
he has lived in vain if he is not thus concerned for 
his soul; and he will have to say what a very 
learned man in all worldly learning once said, " I 
have spent life in laboriously doing nothing." 
You are commanded to repent. There is something 
affecting in the consideration of an aged sinner — 
of a man who has had life given him to prepare for 
eternity, and from whom it has nearly all ebbed 
away. It is the eleventh hour with him, and with 
some it is past the eleventh hour. But, remember, 
God commandeth you "to repent:" he sends the 
summons once more; and though one foot is in the 
grave, and the head white with age, and the heart 
black with crime, yet after all you may repent :— 

u For while the lamp holds out to bum, 
The vilest sinner may return." 

And God commands us all " every- where to repent." 



314 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



II. I pass on to show the reason why the 
command is given. " Because he hath appointed 
a day, in the which he will judge the world in 
righteousness by that man whom he hath or- 
daine I." 

The certainty of a day of judgment is taught by 
reason, as we said before. We observe the con- 
duct of men around us : we sometimes see that the 
virtuous are rewarded, are taken care of, are amply 
provided for; but we often see the reverse of that : 
and if we believe in the doctrine of the Divine gov- 
ernment at all, we must suppose there is some state 
after this in which all these discrepancies will be 
adjusted, in which all these unevennesses will be 
made straight. Conscience tells us there will be 
a day of judgment. The conscience it is that in- 
terprets the character upon the wall ; the con- 
science it is that says to us, " Thou art weighed in 
the balances and found wanting." Again, we are 
confirmed in this opinion by the general belief of 
the Church of God in all ages. It has been the 
sentiment of all good men, of all virtuous men, of 
all the Church of God in every part of the world : 
they have all believed in a future judgment : it has 
been an article of their creed, and a substantial 
part of it. 

But we have a full revelation, as I said before, 
in the Word of God. The great white throne 
will be set, and the books will be opened, and the 
judgment will proceed, and every man will be 
judged out of the things that are in the book. 
We are told that " God shall come, and shall not 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



315 



keep silence ; a fire shall devour before him, and it 
shall be very tempestuous round about him." We 
are told that " every one of us shall give an account 
of himself to God," — that " we must all appear be- 
fore the judgment-seat of Christ." There are 
numerous, innumerable passages, indeed, in which 
this doctrine is clearly stated in Scripture ; there 
is special evidence given of it in the text, by the 
resurrection of Christ from the dead: " He hath 
appointed a day, in the which he will judge the 
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath 
ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto 
all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." 
The resurrection of Christ from the dead, wher- 
ever it is known, is an indubitable evidence of a 
future judgment ; it is teaching the doctrine, in 
fact, by example. 

1. Then, observe, too, the period appointed for 
this process : " He hath appointed a day." The 
time is fixed ; it is ordained ; it is determined ; 
nothing can postpone it, nothing can antedate it. 
When the time appointed in the councils of heaven 
shall arrive, no contingencies, no events, no revolu- 
tions in the universe can postpone it. God hath 
appointed a day : the time is a limited time, and is 
called " a day." A day is a measured period — so 
long, and no longer — such a measure of duration, 
and nothing further. We know not how long this 
day will be : " One day with the Lord is as a 
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." 
There may be time enough, however, afforded for 
a determinate examination of every individual to 



3 1 6 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



be judged. " Then shall come the end," the close 
of the day of judgment ; and at the close of the 
day of judgment u Christ shall deliver up the 
kingdom to God, even the Father." His last ju- 
dicial act is a mediatorial act — that is, the final 
work of Jesus Christ in his mediatorial capacity ; 
and when Christ shall have accomplished all, then 
comes the consummation — the end of all things. 
That which had been given him to do he will then 
have finished — absolutely finished as Mediator ; 
and he will deliver up the trust which he hatrf re- 
ceived from the Father, and God will be all in all. 

The actual arrival of this day is unknown to us : 
" Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not 
the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, 
but the Father." This is wise: if we knew the 
time there would be certain inconveniences result- 
ing from our knowledge. There would be great 
inconvenience as to the wicked, and considerable 
inconveniences and disadvantages as to the gojd. 
The wicked, who presume as it is, would then pre- 
sume much more; the good would then, in all 
probability, relax in their zeal, and assiduity, and 
painstaking. There is great uncertainty thrown 
over the time, and that uncertainty is in wisdom to 
us. " Watch, therefore, for ye know not the day 
nor the hour when the Son of man cometh." In 
one sense, the day of our death will be a sort of 
rehearsal of the judgment-day : as far as we nre 
individually concerned, our dying day will be the 
judgment-day to us; a short, and complete, and 
decisive rehearsal will then take place of our whole 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 317 



life, conduct, and character. But the last day, the 
great day of common assize, the general judgment, 
is distant, future — will take place at the end of the 
world. If every man were to be judged on his 
committing a single act of sin, it would throw 
every thing into confusion, and society would be 
disturbed. All nations of men have certain fixed 
clays — assize days, public days — in which the in- 
terests of the community are maintained, and in 
which the conduct of guilty individuals is investi- 
gated — in which the majesty of law, truth, justice, 
and order are vindicated. It is so in the govern- 
ment of God ; the grand assize of the human race 
is future, distant, but certain. The day is marked 
in the counsels of eternity, and will certainly come 
to pass. 

2. Observe the Person who is to preside over 
the solemnities of that day. It is as much as if 
God had said, u Repent, because there is a day of 
judgment : " but, then, to make the matter more 
forcible, if possible, he says, "I have appointed the 
man Jesus Christ the Judge." The sinner cannot 
object to that, because the man Christ Jesus died 
to save him; and if the man Christ Jesus con- 
demns him, he must, indeed, deserve to be con- 
demned. The saint cannot object to that, because 
he has actually obtained his fellowship with Christ 
on earth ; and, therefore, he sees in the person of 
the Judge, his Brother, his Friend, his Redeemer. 
He " now commandeth all men every-where to re- 
pent : because he hath appointed a day, in the which 
he will judge the world in righteousness by that 



3i8 



The Wesley an Demostlicnes. 



man whom he hath ordained." That is the occa- 
sion on which the human nature of Christ will be 
exalted ; that is one part of the reward which the 
Father will give to the Son for his mediatorial acts. 
The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed 
all judgment unto the Son ; that all men should 
honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." 
Whoever presides over the solemnities of the judg- 
ment-day must be omniscient; he must be capable 
of estimating the motives and principles which 
actuate us; for there is a tincture diffused over 
every action from the internal spring that occasions 
it. Our actions are perpetrated under a certain 
combination of circumstances; and in perpetrating 
them, we are assisted by good angels and hindered 
by bad ones. Whoever judges man must know 
how he was hin iered and how he was assisted; he 
must be a person of perfect equity and absolute 
perfection ; he must, in short, be God. Therefore, 
the human nature that must sit on the throne of 
judgment will be the human nature in connection 
with one of the persons of the Godhead. The 
man Christ Jesus w T ill judge us, but the man Christ 
is the Son of God ; for his appointment as Judge 
is itself an evidence of his being God. In fact, 
when we shall be judged, angels and devils will be 
judged w T ith us; and he that is to judge us, is to 
judge angels — is to judge fallen angels. And, re- 
member, every man's case will differ from an- 
other's; we cannot be thrown into groups and 
classes; but every man's case differs from every 
other. The very thought of it is perplexing and 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



319 



confounding to our intellect; and we, at the mo- 
ment, must be convinced that the individual who 
is able to preside over all these solemnities, must 
be infinite and eternal — God. 

3. Observe the process itself — that " He will 
judge the world in righteousness." There will 
be scrutiny, separation, decision, execution. Ah ! 
those eyes that are like a flame — those eyes that 
see into all the depths of the human heart, will 
scrutinize every individual character. "The secret 
things belong unto the Lord our God; but those 
things which are revealed belong unto us and our 
children forever." God will judge the secrets of 
men by Jesus Christ. There is, perhaps, not an 
individual here this night who has not done, said, 
or thought that which, if others knew, would cover 
him with confusion, shame, and distress. O, what 
an unfolding of history, character, and conduct 
will take place at the last great day of judgment! 

There will be separation — the good from the 
bad, the righteous from the wicked, the believer 
from the unbeliever : and the separation will be so 
complete that not one sinner will be found in the 
congregation of the righteous, nor one righteous 
in the congregation of the wicked. The King, the 
Judge, shall separate men "as a shepherd divideth 
his sheep from the goats;" and he shall put the 
sheep on the right hand, and the goats on the left. 

Then comes the decision. The sentence upon 
the righteous shall be, "Come, ye blessed of my 
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from 
the foundation of the world." It has been well 



320 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



said, that there is music, love, heaven, in every 
word of that sentence : " Come, ye blessed of my 
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for yon." 
This intimates to you the vastness of our future 
felicity. But then the other sentence is equally 
strong : " Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, 
prepared for the devil and his angels." If there is 
heaven in every word of the other sentence, there 
is 1M1 in every word of this. It is a solemn fact, 
that the sentence which will determine our fate 
for ever and ever is not unknown; we know it 
beforehand: one of these two sentences will be ad- 
dressed to every one who is now in the presence of 
God. " He hath appointed a day, in the which he 
will judge the world in righteousness by that man 
whom he hath ordained : " therefore, he " com- 
mandeth all men every- where to repent." 

I now come to the practical lesson to be derived 
from this subject. 

We learn, first of all, a lesson of confirmation of 
our faith. I do not know that any of you are 
speculative believers in the doctrine of a future 
judgment. Perhaps there is an individual here 
who is prepared to deny it ; but there are many 
young people who know but little as to the evi- 
dence on which it rests ; and as they are liable to 
be assailed by the objections of infidels, and the 
doubts of their own minds, and the temptations of 
Satan, it is of great importance for them to come 
to know the ground of their faith, and to " be 
ready to give a reason for the faith that is in them 
unto every one that asketh of thee." 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 321 



Then, observe, we should have a lesson of self- 
examination. Are we prepared for this process? 
We must undergo it ; nothing can take us out of 
it; nothing can exempt us from it; every one 
must stand at the judgment-seat of Christ: there 
is no one too exalted to be allowed to escape — no 
one too obscure to be passed over. Every one — 
you and I, and each and all of us, must be there. 
Are we, then, prepared for that solemnity? Are 
we repenting ? for we are li commanded to repent." 
Are we believing ? for " he that believeth " only 
" shall be saved." Are we putting on the Lord 
Jesus Christ? for he is our wisdom, righteousness, 
and strength. Do you know Christ? Are you 
found with him? Are 3^011 one with him? Are 
you united to him by a living faith? They shall 
stand in the judgment who know him as their Sav- 
iour and their Friend, and they alone. 

We may gather, also, a reason for diligence. 
The day of reckoning is coming. The certain man, 
the nobleman, the prince, the monarch who has 
given to us certain talents, and gone into a far 
country, will come again ; and He will summon us 
into his presence; and he will say unto us, " Give 
an account of your stewardship ; " and we shall 
have to render up, before his tribunal, an account 
of our fidelity to the trust which we have received 
from him. And then, as the judgment is coming, 
as the judgment will be set, as the reckoning will 
be gone through, let us be stimulated to do what- 
ever we have to do, that we give up our account, 
at last, " with jov and not with grief." Let every 
21 



322 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



one of us be stewards of the gift of God. Let us 
rather so live that we may hear the voice of the 
Judge addressing himself unto us, and saying, 
" Come, ye good and faithful servants : you have 
been faithful over a few things, I will make you 
rulers over many things: enter ye into the joy of 
your Lord." As sure as we are in this house to- 
night, so sure we shall stand before the judgment- 
seat of Christ. As sure as you are hearing my 
voice, so sure you must hear the voice of the Son 
of God. As sure as the trumpet of the Gospel is 
now sounding in your ears, the judgment-trumpet 
will sound in your ears by and by. Whether you 
hear the silver trumpet of the Gospel or not, 
whether you heed it or not, you must hear and 
you must heed the last trumpet. You cannot go 
back. God grant that the sound of the last trum- 
pet may be welcome to our ears ; that as we listen 
to its tones we may lift up our heads from the 
grave, and lift them up without blushing; and as 
we behold the Judge ascending, may we behold 
him, saying, "This is our God, he will come and 
save us ; lo ! this is our God, we will rejoice and 
be glad in his salvation ! " Amen. 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



323 



XI. 

KELIGIOft m SOCIAL LIFE. 

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the 
Church and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and 
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he 
might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, 
or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and 
without blemish." — Ephesians v, 25, 27. 

Theee exists to a lamentable extent a want of cor- 
rect application among professed Christians as to 
the bearing that Christianity has upon common 
life — upon household duties — upon domestic, social, 
every-day practice and behavior. There are some 
who reverence religion, and know a little about it, 
who consider it a lofty and sacred thing, not to be 
meddled with except on Sabbath days, and in the 
sanctuary, and at the sacramental table, and at 
baptisms. Hence I find that many persons are 
more than ordinarily serious before a baptism in our 
families, just before a sacrament in the chapel. 
They consider religion as eminently fitted for what 
may be called the great exigencies of human life, 
the grand emergencies of man's existence. They 
think it pre-eminently qualified to meet the case 
of some desolating affliction : they find that in the 
instance of the occurrence of some huge, unlooked- 
for calamity, there is nothing to soothe the mind — 
nothing to buoy up the feelings — nothing to bear 
up the spirit under the shock and the pressure, but 



324 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



religion; and in the moment of these solemn and 
vast calamities they are for falling back upon relig- 
ion. They will allow that religion is pre-eminently 
fitted to bear up a man in the crisis of nature, in 
the solemnities of separation from one world and 
of the arrival at another; that when a man must 
cross the line, whether he will or no, that separates 
between time and eternity, between finite and in- 
finite, then religion is all important ; in that sol- 
emn crisis there is nothing but religion that will do. 

But I find that although men are quite willing 
generally to concede all this to religion, to concede 
to religion its paramount fitness to meet the great 
solemnities of a man's history, they exclude it 
from common life — from domestic duties — from 
household affairs. But religion is not to be so 
excluded : religion is like the providence of our 
Creator, which directs the movements of Saturn 
and of Jupiter in their vast orbits, and directs with 
equal precision the flight of the sparrow — that 
directs the fortunes of the solar system, and yet as 
minutely watches over the fortunes of every hair 
on our heads ; like the great providence of God, 
which presides over all the orbs of the sky, and 
over all space, and over all beings, however va- 
rious. So it is with Christianity; it comes round 
us — it takes hold of us— it never lets us go. 
Whether a man be a father, or a husband, or a 
master, whatever situation he occupies, Christianity 
meets him — -Christianity finds him — Christianity 
addresses him as he is, and tells him what is his 
duty, and what his influence. 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



325 



There are scattered over the epistles that which 
comes home to the duties of life ; and that is one 
reason, I think, why the Gospels are preferred to 
the epistles. I am not surprised that children pre- 
fer the Gospels to the epistles, because they are 
made up of narrative, and narrative will hold a 
child's attention by the hour; therefore I am not 
surprised that children prefer the evangelists, Mat- 
thew, Mark, Luke, and John, to the epistles ; but 
the same preference which characterizes children 
very much characterizes grown persons, though 
there is a similar reason for this preference to that 
which I find existing on the part of the children. 
Children prefer Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, 
because Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are just 
history — are just narrative — because they are full 
of incident; but I find that grown people also 
prefer Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, to the 
epistolary parts of the New Testament, because 
the epistolary parts of the New Testament come 
home to the duties of life, and teach a man in 
every situation in which the providence of God 
has placed him. 

Nothing would be easier than to point out many 
of the illustrations which are scattered over the 
epistolary waitings of the New Testament as ex- 
pressive of the adaptation of Christianity to man ; 
but I take the one that is presented to us in the 
text : " Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ 
also loved the Church, and gave himself for it ; 
that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the 
washing of water by the word, that he might 



326 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



present it to himself a glorious Church, not having 
spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it 
should be holy and without blemish." 

This is one of those texts in the writings of St. 
Paul which prove that his style of writing is that 
which is called the discursive style ; that is to say, 
as soon as he mentions a thought, he writes that 
thought down, or employs another hand to write 
it tor him, (for he usually employed an amanuen- 
sis:) no sooner has one thought thrilled through 
his intellect than that thought, by taking hold of 
his intellect, so enlarges it that instantly another 
thought comes across his mind, and he stops to 
give utterance to the next thought, and then he 
goes on with another which has grown out of 
that ; and thus (so to speak) he builds an arch of 
deviation, one bold sentence springing out of an- 
other. His sentences are not one single arch, but 
as soon as one arch is sprung up another rises 
upon that, tier upon tier, and after completing a 
series of arches of deviation from the first though;, 
he co.nes back to the first thought : all these arches 
of deviation, in the mean time, not having weak- 
ened the original thought, but having buttressed 
it up, and made it more energetic and command- 
ing than if it s.ood alone. 

So in the text : u Husbands," says the apostle, 
" love your wives." Who would have thought 
that when the apostle called on husbands to love 
their wives, that he would have enforced that 
duty by the mighty master-truths of Christianity, 
as he does? 44 Husbands, love your wives, even 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 327 



as Christ also loved the Church." The very men- 
tion of Christ loving the Church kindled the soul 
of Paul : off he springs with his arch of deviation. 
Christ love the Church ! Yes, says he, " and gave 
himself for it, that he might present it to himself 
a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or 
any such thing; "but that it should be holy and 
without blemish." What he was aiming at was 
the purity of social love, the purity of social man- 
ners, the rooting up of the infection and the im- 
purity which had mixed itself with the habits of 
the people, and bringing them under the influence 
of social, domestic, and moral manners. Think 
you, he says, of the purity which Christ has in- 
tended to bring back into his Church, which is 
nothing but a family : the Church is a family — a 
great compact ; and what is the purpose of Chr^t 
concerning his family, the Church ? u Christ loved 
the Church, and gave himself for it ; that he might 
present it to himself a glorious Church, not having 
spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it 
should be holy and without blemish.' 5 

It is not my intention to hold your considera f ion 
further, at present, to the duties enjoined by the 
apostle in the text, but rather to dwell on the im- 
port of those essential truths on which he bases 
the duty ; namely, on Christ's love to the Church 5 
and the demonstration of that love which the 
apostle mentions in this splendid passage — one of 
the finest that ever sprung out of his intellect, one 
of the richest that his pen ever touched. In this 
single text alone the whole structure of salvation 



328 The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



comes out before us, laying its foundation in the 
eternal love of Christ, having its pinnacles soaring 
to the unfathomable heights of heaven's eternal 
glory; having its foundation in the eternal love 
of Christ, and its capital, its cornice, its summit, 
in the sublimities and glories of the eternal heav- 
ens. I invite your attention to this subject to- 
night. May the Holy Spirit enable me to bring 
it out, and enable your minds rightly to appre- 
hend it ! 

It is the love of Christ to the Church which is 
spoken of by the apostle. It will be necessary, 
first, to consider the condition of mankind on 
whom this love was bestowed. There was noth- 
ing in that condition thai could have prompted 
it; there was every thing in the condition of 
man to prevent, to obviate its efflux toward man- 
kind. 

In the first place, we look at the condition of 
mankind. It is a condition of gross and palpable 
impurity — a condition of extreme loathsomeness. 
You may sometimes find among your fellow-crea- 
tures forms and combinations of physical wretch- 
edness exceedingly loathsome, exceedingly offen- 
sive to the contemplation. Rut there is no com- 
bination of circumstances of extreme wretched- 
ness which the sick bed in a hospital ever accu- 
mulated, or which imaginations working on the 
materials of actual life could ever form — no such 
combination would be an adequate representation 
of the wretchedness of human nature. I think I 
am right when I say that the feeling of aversion, 



llie Wesley an Demosthenes. 329 



the feeling of distaste, the feeling of loathing, of 
abhorrence, of repulsion, which the most refined, 
sublimated, spiritual natures in the universe feel 
toward sin, are approbation itself compared with 
the intense loathing which God has toward it. 
The things in the universe which to us are the 
emblems of all that is celestially pure, of all that 
is absolutely sinless, that is utterly immaculate, 
that is ethereally clearest — the things in nature 
that are the emblems to us of all that is trans- 
cendently spotless, are unclean in God's sight. He 
looks to the moon — (O that fine passage in the 
book of Job ! All the philosophy of six thousand 
years is embodied in the book of Job) — he looks 
to the moon, and the chaste moon shineth not. 
He looks to the heavens, to the unsullied ether — 
to the stars, those clarified points of light — he 
looks to them, and they shine not ; " Yea, the 
stars are not pure in his sight." No wonder the 
patriarch goes on to say, " How much less man, 
that is a worm ; and the son of man, which is a 
worm ?" How much more abominable aud filthy 
is a man that drinketh iniquity as the ox drinketh 
water ! 

In addition to the impurity of man, which must 
be so loathsome to the eye of God, there is an- 
other thing which we must mention, and that is, 
the guilt of man. While the guilt of man made it 
obnoxious to Him who is the supreme moral na- 
ture of the universe, the guilt of man made it ex- 
tremely offensive to him who is the moral Ruler 
of the universe ; and while God's moral essence 



330 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



revolts from our moral depravity, God's moral 
rectitude revolts from our moral guilt : while the 
essence of the Deity recoils from the impurity of 
our sin, the grandeur of the majesty of the Law- 
giver of the universe binds him down to regard 
oar sin as the object of severest condemnation. 

Do not mistake me here. I do not intimate 
that the feeling with which God regards sin, and 
the feeling of anger toward it, are any thing like 
what we call anger in ourselves. Anger in us is a 
passion ; anger in us is a fitful thing ; anger in us 
is a thing perturbed, a thing tumultuous, a thing ir- 
regular: the anger which God feels at sin is a 
totally different thing. I am considering the con- 
dition of man. I cannot say God did not pity his 
condition: there was enough in the contemplation 
of the deep and awful consequences of sin to ex- 
cite pity in the mind of God — such pity as we 
know he feels toward the wholly undone — such 
pity as Jesus Christ himself felt when he went to 
Jerusalem and beheld its towers and its battle- 
ments, and listened to the tramp of the feet of its 
population, and when, beholding the dark and un- 
believing condition of its inhabitants, he wept over 
it, saying, O that thou hadst known, even thou 
at least in this thy day, the things which belong 
unto thy peace ! but now they are hid from thine 
eyes." Such pity as the husband feels on the 
bench — such pity as he felt the other day in pro- 
nouncing over that monster of crime the most just 
sentence of the law:* the judge knowing that that 
* Alluding to Greenacre, the murderer. 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 331 



sentence was righteous by the laws of the land, 
quailed as he pronounced it; his voice trembled— 
it was choked with pity ; his nature was dissolved ; 
but the law — the eternal majesty and truth of the 
law — must be maintained. And so it is with God : 
he has a yearning pity over mankind ; a melting, 
throbbing tenderness over human guilt and wretch- 
edness. But there are purposes in the divine na- 
ture to which the divine compassion must give 
way ; there are rights in the universe to which 
the feelings of individuals, of those individuals 
who have sunk their own rights, who have extin- 
guished their own rights, must give way : there 
are rights in the universe which are not to be sac- 
rificed, even to meet the feelings of those individ- 
uals who have murdered their own rights, and 
have utterly annihilated them. So it is with God : 
he is a God of truth, a God of order: he has to 
maintain the universe, he is to prevent it from 
rushing into confusion, and to keep it in its beau- 
tiful condition of perfect mechanism ; and there- 
fore God, as the God of order, must regard the 
iniquity of mankind with indignant abhorrence ; 
he must consider it as an object of condemnation ; 
albeit, all the while he has a feeling of pity toward 
the individual guilty of it. 

I do not know whether I make myself clearly 
understood. The meaning is just this — that the 
love in the mind of Christ, in the bosom of the 
Son of God, his love to our nature, must have been 
a most powerful spring, a most intense feeling ; 
one that rushed over all difficulties, and flowed in 



332 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



upon the human race. In spite of its depravity, 
and in spite of its guilt, Christ loved us. 

But love is not to be estimated by words ; love 
is to be estimated by deeds. The love of a human 
being is not to be measured by the mere profes- 
sions of a human being ; the love of a human be- 
ing is to be measured by the deeds which it per- 
forms as the testimony of love. So with Christ : 
his love to our world is not to be measured by say- 
ings, but by doings ; not by words, but by things ; 
not by sentences, but by sacrifice. Hear what 
the apostle says on this subject: "Christ loved the 
Church, and gave himself for it." Here was a 
miracle wrought on the very threshold of the 
scheme of our redemption. The miracle was, to 
prepare a person who should be competent to carry 
out this purpose of love, and execute the scheme 
of redemption. Now the first step which the love 
of Christ achieved for his Church was a miracle in 
his own person. Into the mystery of the God- 
head, of there being three persons and but one 
God, the Godhead not being mortal but spiritual ; 
the Godhead existing in the form and the character 
of three persons and one God, the essence indivisi- 
ble, the persons co-eternal: into that mystery of 
the Godhead there had to be interwoven another 
mystery. Before the scheme of redemption could 
be carried out into the Godhead, had there to be 
interwoven manhood ; into the nature of him that 
loved, the nature of the Church that was loved 
had, somehow or other, to be incorporated. To 
prepare a person who, by the sacrifice of himself, 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



333 



might effect all the purposes of redeeming love, a 
man had to be made who, when made, would be 
Jehovah's fellow ; a„ child had to be born, who, 
when he was born, would be God's Son. Christ, 
therefore, the light of eternity and the head of the 
universe, for the love which he bore us did not 
think it too much to appear in our nature, in the 
likeness of the sinner, in the form of a servant ; he 
did not think it too much to take into wedlock 
with his own eternal nature our human nature. 
The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." 
Still further, to notice the extent of the love of 
Christ to the Church we must consider the humilia- 
tion which that love led Christ to undergo for the 
Church. "He gave himself up for us;" lie gave 
himself unto death for us ; he took hold of human 
nature. The immortal was incapable of dying, there- 
fore the immortal became human. Because mor- 
tality could die, and immortality could not die, he 
took upon himself our mortal nature ; so that, 
though immortal in himself, being mortal in one 
part he might be capable of dying for his Church. 

It is an axiom of biblical truth, " Greater love 
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his 
life for his friend ; " and we have here and there a 
beautiful, though dim, legend of some heroic hus. 
band, some heroic wife, who for the love which 
they bore to each other did literally die for each 
other. There are in the facts of profane history a 
few dim, shadowy outlines, a few scanty, disheveled 
notices of such occurrences as these— that w T hen 
the oracle gave any individual the alternative of 



334 The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



dying for another, some such individuals have 
counted it a sweet and sacred thing to die, and 
have died for the love of another — for their wife, 
for their husband. Such are the tales of profane 
history, (and there are not half a dozen of them in 
the six thousand years of this world's history,) 
such the stories that have come down to us of the 
triumphs of human love, of the achievements of 
human affection. But there is not one recorded of 
a person dying for his enemy . We have instances 
of a person dying for his friend — an attached friend. 
No doubt David or Jonathan would have died the 
one for the other. David would have died for 
Jonathan, or Jonathan would have died for David, 
if there had been occasion, such was the love they 
bore to one another. But the love of Christ was 
not for his friends, but for his adversaries ; not for 
his lovers, but for his enemies. " Herein is love, 
not that we loved God, but that God loved us, and 
gave himself for us." 

I am sure you will agree with me when I go on 
to say, that in speaking of the love of Christ for 
us, which led him to taste death for us, we do not 
give any thing like a proper representation of that 
love, unless, when we say he died for us, we go on 
to say what kind of death he died for us. We 
fail in the representation unless we go on with the 
apostle, and say, he "became obedient unto death, 
even the death of the cross ; " a death the most 
terrific of all the forms of cruelty which the ingen- 
ious cruelties of human kind have inflicted on the 
worst members of the human race ; a form of death 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



335 



which, according to the great Roman orator Cicero, 
ought to be forever banished from the eyes, and 
ears, and imaginations of men ; a form of death 
concentrating in itself the greatest amount of pub- 
lic infamy, with the highest intensity of individual 
suffering: and that was the death which Christ, 
who loved the Church, endured for the love he bore 
to it. 

Permit me still further to say, that the kind of 
death which, for the love of the Church, Christ en- 
dured, over and above all the circumstances in it 
which meet in other cases of that sort, there were 
great peculiarities in his case. At that time, you 
are aware, when Christ's human nature was occu- 
pied — I was going to say overladen — when his 
human cup of suffering was more than full, when 
the human nature of Christ was already occupied 
and overladen, that was the moment selected by 
Satan to assault him ; that was the crisis chosen by 
the powers of darkness to assault him ; and there- 
fore, said the Saviour, " Now is your hour and the 
power of darkness." Satan had assaulted him all 
along. He had assaulted him in the wilderness, 
he had assaulted him in the garden ; but the as- 
sault made on the cross exceeded all former as- 
saults, and therefore Christ said, " Now Satan com- 
eth," as if he had never come before : " Now is 
your hour, and the power of darkness." 

Over and above these sufferings, which envi- 
roned the man Christ Jesus as he hung on the 
cross, there was another that wrung him with most 
bitter anguish — that clave his soul in twain — that 



336 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 

rent him with untold sorrow; and that was the 
hiding of the Father's countenance. O, what must 
it have been to Christ, who had lived eternally in 
the radiance of the smile of his Father, to know 
that he was then regarded by the Father as if he 
had been a sinner; to know and to feel that he 
was treated then as if all the imputed guilt of the 
world which lay on him had been his own ! For 
the one mysterious moment the man Christ Jesus 
was deserted of his Father, he felt as though the 
light of the universe was blotted out. A darkness 
— a thick darkness — a darkness that might be felt, 
pressed on his spirit, and an unimaginable chill 
fell on his pure soul, so that he cried out, "My 
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? " 
And then, when he felt that the atonement which 
he w^as offering up for the sin of the world — for 
the redemption of the Church ; when he felt that 
that atonement was accepted, the dark eclipse 
which had come over Calvary, the shuddering 
earth which had felt the terrible eclipse, all became 
tranquil ; the sun burst forth, and in the sudden 
and unexpected light the universe was glad. 
" Christ loved the Church, anti gave himself for 
it." 

I beg here to inquire, What was it that induced 
Jesus Christ thus to give himself up to die ? Was 
it any love of fame — abstract firmness for suffering 
— any bluntness in his nature to the infliction of 
pain ? O no : how finely was his human nature 
hung with those chords that vibrate through the 
goul! How exquisitely was his body hung with 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



337 



those nerves that convey to the spirit of man the 
anguish that touches every pore ! What was it, 
then, made him suffer ? It was love. There 
was no power superior to his own that could have 
overpowered him, and make him submit to this. 
We are forced, then, to the conclusion which the 
apostle gives us, that it was love ; love so amaz- 
ing, so divine : it was the exuberance of affection, 
the triumph of generosity — a burst of independent 
affection, an ocean of infinite regard. It is a love 
that angels do not understand, that I do not un- 
derstand, that you do not understand ; a mystery 
of love, to fathom which, to span which, to weigh 
which, to measure which, to ponder which, forms 
the bliss of angels and "the spirits of just men 
made perfect." 

In the connection of these words the apostle 
teaches us the entire spontaneity — the entire free- 
ness — the absolute voluntariness of all this pro- 
ceeding on the part of Jesus Christ. He says, 
" He gave himself." It is not necessary that I 
detain yon here, as an illustration of this, with 
mention of those manifold passages of Scripture 
which Christ delivered himself, in his intercourse 
with the disciples and with the world, which ex- 
pressed this same thing: one or two references 
shall be sufficient. On one occasion, when the 
people were coming out against him as a common 
thief, with swords and staves, with the assistance 
of the civil officers, to take him, with one tranquil 
word which he spake to them they all fell back, 

more than if smitten by the thunderbolts of w T ar. 
22 J 



338 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



Rome's hardest sons, Rome's most massive men, 
quailed; they fell to the earth, they licked the 
dust, before the Man of Calvary, who spake a 
single quiet word to «them. " No man," saith he, 
" taketh my life from me," — not all the concen- 
trated power of Rome. " I lay clown my life, 
and I take it up again." What did he say to his 
disciples when he found them trembling; when 
he was on the threshold of his final agony ? 
" What ! " said he, " think you not that I could 
pray to my Father, and he would give me 
legions of angels ! " celestial beings which should 
come flashing down in floods of light to rescue my 
human nature if that were in remote jeopardy. 
See him as he ascended the fatal hill of Calvary ; 
see the meekness that sat upon his lips, while om- 
nipotence slumbered in his arm. See his behavior 
on Calvary's brow, and nailed to the tree, when 
his enemies seemed for one moment to relax at the 
agony they were inflicting on him, and when they 
prepared a mixture of myrrh and wine to blunt 
his feeling — to deaden his sensibilities to the 
amount of anguish that was lingering over his 
frame ; but he would not taste it, lest it should 
blunt his soul's keen agony ; he would not taste 
a drop, lest it should have dimmed for an instant 
his sense of the anguish he was to endure. 

I have thus endeavored to notice the love which 
Christ has to his Church. I might now take 
another course to bring out the same conclusion; 
and that is, by noticing the object for which all 
this was bestowed on mankind. " Christ loved 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 339 



the Church, and gave himself for it ; " and here are 
the effects — here are the sequences — here are the 
results : " that he might sanctify and cleanse it 
with the water of his word, that he might pre- 
sent it to himself a glorious Church, not having 
spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that 
it should be holy and without blemish." Beau- 
tiful words, demanding a whole discourse in 
itself; from which we learn that the great princi- 
ple which Jesus Christ in his love had in view 
concerning us is our holiness. There is a mistake 
made by many Christian people in the estimate 
they form of the two great cardinal blessings of 
salvation, namely, justification and sanctification, 
I do not mean as to the order of time — justifica- 
tion is generally admitted by all to be first in the 
order of time ; but I find this mistake, that not 
only is justification generally considered first in 
the order of time, but first in the order of impor- 
tance — to be first in rank — to be first in conse- 
quence — to be first in moment and in value. 
Hence many people seem to value sanctification, 
not for its own extrinsic worth, but merely as an 
effect of justification, and therefore an evidence 
of it to others, as a sign and a pledge of justifica- 
tion, as it is to themselves a proof of justification. 
Justification is one end for which Christ gave him- 
self for our sins, that believing in that atonement 
we might have justification ; but he gave himself 
primarily, mainly, that we might have sanctifica- 
tion ; that he might take the poor, polluted, trem- 
bling thing lying in the dust, and tearing the 



340 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



brand of condemnation from its brow, and wash- 
ing away the pollution from its nature, that he 
might put on her — his espoused bride, Ins celestial 
queen — the sponsal diadem ; that he might take 
this degraded, trembling woman, lying in the dust, 
covered with pollution, and lift her up, and make 
her stand at his right hand as queen in the gold of 
Ophir : and must she not be brought in the spon- 
sal robe? Unquestionably, looking at the state of 
the Church as we now find it in its militant condi- 
tion, we do not find it without spot, or without 
wrinkle, or without any such thing; but the 
Church in its militant condition is moving onward 
and upward ; and the individual members who, 
taken collectively, form the Church, are increasing 
in holiness and in conformity to God ; and every 
separate soul as it passes lhat dark bourne which 
separates eternity from time, having followed after 
this holiness, and having followed on to know the 
Lord, every separate soul emerges on the other 
side of the flood, the body of sin and death having 
been left on this side — emerges on the other, a 
pure and spotless thing: and when the whole are 
gathered together — when the Church of Christ 
shall be complete in the last degree, when the pal- 
ace of the bridegroom shall be fraught with celes- 
tial splendor and ring with celestial music, then the 
Church shall be " without spot, or wrinkle, or any 
such thing." Ages shall write no wrinkle on her 
queenly brow; temptation shall cast no defilement 
on her robes : she is unsullied, immaculate, com- 
plete in the image of her bridegroom. When God 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



341 



calls the universe to celebrate the nuptials of the 
Lamb, as we read in the book of Revelation, u I 
heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, 
and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice 
of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia! for the 
Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad 
and rejoice, and give honor to him : for the mar- 
riage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made 
herself ready." O, I wonder not that the Church 
of old, the mystic spouse of the bridegroom, should 
borrow the splendid eulogy on love which we have 
in the Old Testament; I stand amazed not that 
the bursting eloquence of the Church should deck 
out the love of Christ in this way : " Set me as a 
seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm : 
for love is strong as death : jealousy is cruel as the 
grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which 
hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot 
quench love, neither can the floods drown it." O, 
what has tried to quench the love of Christ ! O, 
the torrents, the floods, that poured their might on 
this bursting flame of love ! But it burned on and 
on in the seas that inclosed it ; and from the tem- 
pestuous ordeal to which it w T as subjected, it came 
forth an orb of transcendent splendor. 

The sacramental service follows this, and the 
sacramental service is an earnest of the bridal fes- 
tivity. The bridegroom comes down and meets 
the bride now : he is the master of the feast. It is, 
so far as it goes, a bridal festivity between Christ 
and his Church, and I pray God that when the 
master shall look in on the guests, when those who 



342 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



are at the table shall receive the elements from 
the minister, I pray God that he may find no one 
at it without a wedding garment. Remember 
what the Bible says about the guest which came 
in without a wedding garment : the King came in 
to see the guests, and he saw one who was with- 
out the wedding garment ; and he said, " Friend," 
— for in that sense even then he called the Jews 
friends — "Friend, how f earnest thou in without a 
wedding garment," — without a preparation ? And 
he was speechless ; and he was thrust out into the 
outer darkness — remember within was the festive 
splendor — he was thrust out where the storm 
raged — where the hurricane blew — where the 
noise of the storm was only broken by the groan 
of his own despair. Prepare to meet the bride- 
groom : " Behold, the bridegroom cometh ; go ye 
out to meet him," 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 343 



XII. 

THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 

"Ye men of Israel, hear these words ; Jesus of Nazareth, a 
man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders 
and signs, which G-od did by him in the midst of you, as ye 
yourselves also know : him, being delivered by the determinate 
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by 
wicked hands have crucified and slain." — Acts ii, 22, 23. 

If there be joy in the presence of the angels of 
God over one sinner that repenteth, what must be 
the joy of that minister who on good grounds has 
reason to conclude, that by the instrumentality of 
his ministrations the kingdom of heaven has been 
opened to a multitude of perishing sinners ? That 
joy of all joys is the highest, the deepest, the rich- 
est, and the strongest. Such was Peter's joy 
upon the day of Pentecost. 

He who enters on the work of the ministry en- 
ters into tribulation. When Peter was appointed 
to the ministry, to the aposcleship, he was ap- 
pointed to martyrdom. He that said to Peter, 
" Feed my sheep, feed my iambs,'' said also unto 
him, " When thou wast young, thou girdedst thy- 
self, and walkedst whither thou wouldest ; but 
when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth 
thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry 
thee whither thou wouldest not." Peter's minis- 
tration was a scene of glory, but it was a scene of 



344 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



tribulation ; it was contested all along its course 
with the fiercest and the most virulent opposi- 
tion ; but God gave him to taste at its outset the 
sweetest joy that a minister can taste, and so pre- 
pared him for the bitternesses that were to come. 

The first sermon, the very first sermon, that 
Peter preached was with the Holy Ghost and with 
power. My text is a part of it. You know the 
simplicity of his manner, the order and power of 
his argument, the force and majesty of his elo- 
quence, and O, how successful was that first ser- 
mon ! Peter brought home to his hearers the 
guilt which they had contracted ; he set before 
them Jesus Christ crucified by them, ah ! and for 
them as well as by them ; and that sermon at once 
captivated three thousand hearts — three thousand 
were pricked to the heart, believed, and were added 
unto the Lord. Our God is in the heavens, and 
still our Jesus reigns. We that preach in this 
day are sometimes tempted to inquire, " Who 
hath believed our report ? and to whom is the arm 
of the Lord revealed ? " but our God is in the 
heavens, and still our Jesus reigns, and " with him 
is the residue of the Spirit." May he pour it out 
on this congregation ! May the arm of the Lord 
our God be made bare among us to-night ! I 
bring you no new Gospel ; I rejoice that I preach 
to those, mainly so at least, this evening, who 
have been accustomed to the burden of ray minis- 
try, and who know that I have nothing else to 
preach but Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 
" Hear these words, then, ye men of Israel," and 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 345 



be thankful that ye have to hear them, not in hell, 
but on earth where the Gospel is preached. u Jesus 
of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you 
by miracles and wonders and signs,'' said Peter 
unto the people to whom he preached, " which 
God did by him in the midst of you, as ye your- 
selves also know T : him, being delivered by the 
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, 
ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified 
and slain." 

Now, there are four inquiries to which I shall 
endeavor to direct your attention from these 
words. First, Who was delivered ? " Jesus of 
Nazareth, a man approved of God." Secondly, To 
what was he delivered ? Crucifixion ! " Ye cru- 
cified him." Thirdly, By whom was he thus de- 
livered ? " By the determinate counsel and fore- 
knowledge of God. and by your wicked hands and 
hearts." Fourthly and lastly, The design on ac- 
count of, and the end for which, Jesus of Naza- 
reth was delivered : " for us men and for our salva- 
tion." May God the Holy Spirit assist me to 
preach, and you to hear ! 

I. Who was delivered ? Jesus of Nazareth. 

Jesus of Nazareth had at once a name of igno- 
miny, and. a name of renown ; a name of scandal, 
and a name of glory. Jesus of Nazareth, or as it 
is in the original, Jesus the Nazarene — called a 
Nazarene in Scripture because he was devoted 
unto God — called a Nazarene by the Jews because 
he was brought up at Nazareth ; and they availed 
themselves of that fact in his earliest history, to 



346 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



fasten upon him what they thought would be an 
indelible stigrna. " Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus is 
a name of glory. It was, indeed, a human name, 
a common name : it was borne by many, as we 
read in history, before it was applied to him who 
was born of a virgin ; but when it was once put 
on him who was born of the virgin in Bethlehem, 
it never was put on any other. But the name of 
Jesus, which had been a human name, a common 
name, before it was put upon him born of a virgin, 
w 7 hen once it was put upon him became a divine 
name, a superhuman name, and no father dares to 
call his son Jesus, because God has called his Son 
Jesus. 

(i This is the name to sinners dear, 
This is the name to sinners given." 

This is a name above every name, Jesus of Naza- 
reth ; he saves us by the power of his cross, by 
the glory of his throne. 

We observe, that the particular feature of his 
character here developed in the text, is the 
power of working miracles. " Jesus of Nazareth, 
a man approved of God among you by miracles 
and wonders and signs" Now these three words, 
u miracles and wonders and signs,' 5 are synony- 
mous, the import of them is the same, substantially 
the same. He wrought miracles. What is a mira- 
cle ? A miracle has been defined— 44 a suspension 
of the power of the laws of nature ; a suspension 
or counteraction of the laws of nature." And 
what are the laws of nature? The laws of nature 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 347 



are the associations and agencies of God, by which 
he employs certain causes to the production of 
certain effects, and not others — a certain associa- 
tion between definite causes and definite effects — 
what our philosophers call " the laws of nature;" 
what the Bible calls " the ordinances of heaven." 
What philosophers signify by the terms, the es- 
sential, the inflexible, eternal laws of nature, is 
nothing at all but the w T ill of God acting in a def- 
inite way; and these laws of nature, these ordi- 
nances of heaven, this fixed association between 
cause and effect — Jesus of Nazareth broke in upon, 
disturbed them when he pleased, set them aside as 
often as he listed. He showed that he was the 
Author of nature, and that all these laws, which 
philosophers call the laws of nature, were of his 
own making, his own ordination ; and, therefore, 
as he produced the effects without their appropriate 
causes, as he produced results apart from the usual 
associated causes, therefore he was the God of na- 
ture ; and, by his power of working miracles, 
proved that he was God over all. His miracles 
are called wonders, because they filled the specta- 
tors with wonder ; and they are called signs, be- 
cause they were indexes of the properties, and 
prerogatives, and character of him that wrought 
them. 

" Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God 
among you by miracles and wonders and signs, 
which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye 
yourselves also know" Yes, he might very w T ell 
say that he was preaching to a people who had 



348 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



seen Jesus raise the dead — who had seen him walk 
upon the Lake of Genesareth — who had seen him 
multiply a handful of bread, so that thousands 
were fed — they had seen him give sight to a man 
born blind. How did he effect it? Why, he spat 
upon the ground, made clay with the spittle, and 
anointed the eyes of the man born blind. Was 
that likely to make a blind man see? Was that 
the way to open the eyes of a man born blind, to 
besmear the eyeballs over in that way? Why 
did our Saviour do it in that manner? It was 
done to teach those who witnessed the miracle, 
that the thing itself did not follow from the physic- 
al means employed, for there was no connection 
whatever between besmearing the blind man's 
eyes over in that way and his reception of sight. 
It was to show that the thing wrought was solely 
the effect of him that wrought it, and not in any 
wise connected with the physical means employed 
at the time of the production. The miracle excited 
their attention, as well it might. It was examined ; 
it was tested ; the scribes, and Pharisees, and 
priests, tossed it from crucible to crucible ; they 
endeavored to find some flaw in it ; but after all 
their long attempts to detect some fallacy, in effect 
they said, "We will give it up; we cannot deny 
it ; it is unquestionable that a notable miracle has 
been wrought by the man." 

His power of working miracles was further dis- 
played in the resurrection of the dead, as we have 
already noticed. He raised the son of the widow 
at Nain, he raised the daughter of Jairus, he raised 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 349 



Lazarus. Had he only raised up the daughter of 
Jairus, our infidels would have said it was not a 
resurrection, it was merely a case of suspended 
animation. Well, but, besides that, he raised the 
son of the widow of Nain, who had been dead 
some days. And that is not all : he raised Laza- 
rus, who was dead and buried, and not only dead 
and buried, but the process of putrefaction had 
commenced on the solids and fluids of the body. 
In that hot country putrefaction took place in 
three days : and, as I stated when I preached to 
you last, one proof of the truth of Scripture is the 
resurrection of Christ. It was prophesied of Christ 
that God should not leave his soul in hell, and 
Christ was not more than three days in the grave, 
because if he had been he would have seen corrup- 
tion. But Lazarus was more than three days in 
the grave; for, when he opened up the wondrous 
scene about to be exhibited the sister of Lazarus 
said, "Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath 
been dead four days." But what was that to the 
Son of God ? He came to the mouth of the grave 
and said, "Lazarus, come forth;" and Lazarus 
started into life. It was Jesus of Nazareth that 
spake the word, and he was mighty in signs and 
in deeds. 

See his power in feeding the hungry out of a 
single handful of bread, which he multiplied ; see 
him walking on the waters as if a pavement of 
adamant were under his feet. These are some of 
the miracles, and signs, and wonders done by 
Jesus of Nazareth in the midst of the people ; and 



350 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



these attested his own character as the Messiah. 
The prophecies that went before him intimated 
that he should perform miracles; and, performing 
such miracles, they also attested his own character, 
his infinite beneficence, and benevolence. I pass 
on to notice, 

II. To what this Jesus of Nazareth, a man 
approved of God, by these miracles, signs, and 
wonders, was delivered: for the apostle says, 
" Him being delivered." 

Here we may ask, Why is it that Peter, who is in 
general so bold and perspicuous, does not mention 
to what circumstances, or to what condition, Jesus 
of Nazareth was delivered ? But we shall find an 
answer to this by a reference to the idiom of 
Peter's mother tongue. Peter was a Jew, and 
spoke the Hebrew language ; and according to the 
idiom of that language, the word rendered to be 
delivered, means to be delivered to death, to be 
delivered up for God, to be delivered to martyr- 
dom. It was a common proverb among the Jews 
that such a one was delivered — that is, delivered to 
death, delivered to martyrdom for the truth. Jesus 
of Nazareth was delivered to death, to a death the 
most extraordinary in its nature, and the most 
dolorous in its circumstances, if you consider the 
place where he died, the persons among whom he 
died, or the death itself which he endured. 

Consider the place where he died. We all hope 
to die in our own houses, in our own beds ; the 
people of God generally are allowed to die thus. 
But where did your Lord and Master die ? One 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 351 



of the historians says, with inimitable and over- 
whelming emphasis, "They led him away to Cal- 
vary, and there they crucified him." A place 
putrid with blood and bones — a place, the atmos- 
phere of which was impregnated with a blasphe- 
mous breath. Consider, too, among whom he died. 
He was crucified between two thieves, two male- 
factors; he had the middle place assigned him, as 
though he was worse than either of them. And, 
as to the death itself which he endured , you know 
what it was. Crucifixion was the most lingering 
and painful mode of death, and it was the most 
infamous one ; and in the estimation of the Jews, 
it was an accursed death, for, according to their 
own law, "Cursed was he that hangeth on a tree." 
There see the head that was filled with treasures 
of knowledge sinking lifeless upon his bosom ; see 
those hands that mixed the ointment for the eyes 
of the blind, that multiplied the loaves for the starv- 
ing people, that were stretched out upon the sick 
and dying, to recover and to serve them; see those 
hands stretched on the accursed tree ; see those 
feet that were bedewed with the tears and anointed 
with the ointment of Mary, and that carried him 
about on his journeys of pity and charity, pierced 
with rugged iron ; and the heart that throbbed 
with love for the human race, and glowed with zeal 
for the honor of his Father, pierced with the cruel 
spear. "Behold, all ye that pass by, and see if 
ever was sorrow like unto his sorrow in the day 
that the Lord afflicted him in the fierceness of his 
anger." What part of his flesh was exempt from 



352 The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



suffering? He bore our sins in his own body on 
the tree. What part of his body was exempt from 
anguish? Was it his hands and his feet? — they 
were pierced with nails. Was it his temples? — 
they were punctured with thorns. Was it his 
back ? — that was lacerated with scourges. Was it 
his side? — that was broken by the hostile spear. 
Was it his bones ? — they were all as it were out of 
joint. Was it his muscles? — they were stretched 
upon the gibbet. Was it his veins? — they were 
deprived of their purple fluid. Was it his nerves, 
those canals of feeling, those rivers of sensation ? — 
they were wrung with anguish. He bore our sins 
in his own body on the tree. And all this, the 
affliction of his body, w^as as nothing compared 
with the sorrows of his soul. " My soul," said he, 
when he was delivered up, "is exceeding sorrow- 
ful." u Now am I sorrowful," said he, as if he 
never knew what sorrow was before. Though he 
had been a man of sorrows and a child of grief, 
and began when he was the babe of Bethlehem to 
know the sorrows, though dear to him on our ac- 
count, yet, when he came to be delivered up, he 
said, u Now, now is my soul exceeding sorrowful." 
The weight of mental anguish may be alleviated 
by tsvo sources : it may be alleviated by the affec- 
tionate sympathy of relatives and friends, or alle- 
viated by the consolations of God our heavenly 
Father. 

The weight of mental anguish, I say, may be 
alleviated by the sympathies of affectionate friends. 
When you die, I dare say, your friends will be 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 353 



with you, and they will shake the pillow under 
your head, and they will wipe away the cold, 
clammy sweat as it forms on your marble brow, 
and they will quote the precious promises, and will 
pour out the fervent prayer, and they will soothe 
your anguish, and render you a thousand nameless 
offices of tenderness and affection. But how was 
it with your Saviour ? When he died his disciples 
forsook him and fled ; he was surrounded with 
grim guards — by hostile bands. 

The weight of our mental anguish is often allevi- 
ated, too, by the ministry of holy angels. We see 
not their lovely forms, we hear not the melody of 
their voices ; but they are with us in the hour of 
our deepest sorrow, and they perform offices of 
affectionate kindness to us in the moment of our 
dissolution. They are ministering spirits sent forth 
to minister unto them who are heirs of salvation; 
and perhaps the most important part of their min- 
istration is rendered to us just when life is quiver- 
ing on the lip, and the immortal spirit is on the 
confines of eternity. Our Saviour had himself, 
during his life, been ministered to by angels ; but, 
when delivered np to death, the angels afforded 
him no sympathy. O thou blessed seraph — thou 
that didst fiy to him when in the wilderness of 
temptation ; thou that didst appear to strengthen 
him when in the garden of Gethsemane — -where 
wert thou when he was upon the cross of Calvary ? 
He drank the wine-press of his Father's fury alone ; 
with him was none; neither man nor angel could 
sympathize with him in his suffering. 

. 2a 



354 The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



The weight of mental anguish may be alleviated 
by the consolations of oar heavenly Father. But 
Jesus of Nazareth when delivered up to death was 
without these consolations also. The Father that 
had honored his birth by a new star — the Father 
that had honored his baptism by the sound of a 
more than mortal voice from the exellent glory — 
the Father that had honored him when he per- 
formed the miracles to which I have alluded — the 
Father, the God of all consolation, the everlasting 
Father, the God of love — forsook him upon the 
cross. "My God, [we hear no complaint from 
him until this, and then Christ said,] my God, 
why hast thou forsaken me?" And, at the sound 
of his voice and the bowing of his head, nature, 
affrighted, threw herself into convulsions, the sun 
hid his face, the rocks rent, the graves opened, the 
dead came forth. Jesus of Nazareth was delivered 
up to death, a death the most extraordinary in its 
nature, and the most dolorous in its circumstances. 

IIL I inquire, By whom was he delivered up 
to this death? And the text leads our attention 
to two classes of agents that were concerned in 
this act, the one human, the other divine; the 
one guilty, the other holy; the one visible, the 
other invisible. 

I notice first the human agents : ic Te men of 
Israel," said the apostle, 16 hear these words; Jesus 
of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you 
by miracles and wonders and signs, which God 
did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves 
also know : him, being delivered by the determi- 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 355 



nate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have 
taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and 
slain." Yes, it was the Jews that did it ; their high 
priest had said it was expedient for Christ to die ; 
it was their Pontius Pilate that condemned him ; 
it was their Judas that betrayed him ; it was their 
Herod that mocked him ; it was their priests that 
plotted it ; it was their scribes and Pharisees that 
hailed it ; it was their populace that shouted for it. 
But let not the Jews imagine that their guilt is at 
all diminished by the fact of the death of Christ 
being "according to the determinate counsel and 
foreknowledge of God ; " " him being delivered by 
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of 
God." Their actions were not at all influenced 
by the determinate counsel of Jehovah; the apos- 
tle tells them that they were not : he says, " Te 
have done it ; him ye have taken, and by wicked 
hands have crucified and slain." O, ye detestable 
ye infuriated people; what could move you to 
tear, and mar, and taunt, and crucify, aud revile, 
and slay the Lord of life and glory ? He healed 
your sick, cleansed your lepers, gave sight to the 
blind, expelled demons from the possessed, he 
raised your dead — for which of these things do ye 
crucify him ? O Jerusalem, he ennobled you by his 
birth, he distinguished you by his miracles, he en- 
lightened you by his doctrines, he cherished thee 
with such affectionate regard, that his eyes be- 
came fountains of tears. Here is an appeal by the 
mouth of the divine Father : " O, my people, testify 
to me what have I done to thee ? wherein have I 



356 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



wearied thee ? I brought thee from the house of 
bondage with my great might; I made a way 
through the Red Sea, dried it up for the soles of 
thy feet ; I cast out thy enemies before thee ; I 
gave thee manna from the clouds ; I conducted 
thee by a pillar of fire and cloud ; I brought thee 
triumphantly forth into the land of Canaan; I 
gave thee houses to live in which thou buildest 
not, and wells to drink of which thou diggest not, 
and fields which thou sowest not; I gave to thee 
David and Solomon for kings; I raised up judges 
among you; I gave you Moses for a prophet, 
Aaron for a priest, and Miriam for a prophetess — 
these things have I done. Why do ye crucify me 
■ — which of all these things forms the matter of my 
accusation O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that 
killest the prophets, and stonest them which are 
sent unto thee, mayest thou not have been satis- 
fied with having shed the blood of all the right- 
eous men that have ever been slain, from the death 
of Zacharias, between the porch and the altar, 
without imbruing thy murderous hands in the 
blood of the Lord of life and glory ? O, ye mur- 
derous, infuriated Jerusalem, ye have taken Jesus 
of Nazareth, and him by wicked hands have ye 
crucified and slain ! 

But there is another agency in this transaction ; 
a God appears in this amazing scene. Lift up the 
eyes of your mind to the throne of the heavens, to 
the Majesty on high, and see God delivering up 
his Son to this accursed death. " Him being de- 
livered by the determinate counsel and foreknowl- 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 357 



edge of God, ye have taken. 1 ' They could have 
had no power at all against the Son of man except 
it had been given to them from above; they could 
not any of them — neither Herod, nor Judas, nor 
Pontius Pi] ate, nor the priests — none of them could 
have had any power at all if it had not been from 
God, if it had not been with the concurrence of the 
Lord, Jehovah himself; "him being delivered by 
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of 
God." 

The death of Christ was not casual, it was not 
accidental; it was according to the certain councils 
entered into between the Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost, in the abyss of a past eternity ; when as yet 
there was darkness, when as yet there was no 
creatures to be redeemed ; when as yet time had 
not begun to reign. In these councils that, were 
held between the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, it 
was agreed that one of the persons of the Trinity 
should become incarnate for lost human nature; 
that one should die for our guilty world. Accord- 
ing to these councils, to the contract formed and 
entered into, Jesus of Nazareth was delivered up 
unto death. See Jehovah deliberating whether 
his own Son or man he should spare. To what 
will you compare this, and whereunto will you 
liken it? I knew nothing that this transaction 011 
the part of Jehovah can be compared unto. I 
know that Abraham's offering up Isaac is appealed 
to as something like it; but for my part, I can 
hardly find a shadow of resemblance between the 
one transaction and the other Abraham Lad Lis 



3 5 S The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



son a gift from God, God had his Son by ineffable 
generation. Abraham owed every thing he had to 
God ; God owed us nothing. Abraham could not 
have kept Isaac back from God ; but not all heaven, 
nor earth, nor hell, could have ravished God's eter- 
nal Son from his Father's bosom. Abraham, in offer- 
ing up Isaac, performed an act of obedience as well 
as of high and generous affection; but God owed 
nothing unto us. Where unto, then, will ye liken 
these doings of the Lord God, and to what will you 
compare them ? See Jehovah in his ancient 
. council deliberating with his Son about the future 
redemption of a future w T orld, and deliberating 
whether his own Son or man he should spare — his 
own Son, innocent and holy ; man, polluted and 
guilty: his own Son, the brightness of his own 
glory ; man, the image of the devil : his own Son, 
the express image of the Father's person, beloved 
of all heaven ; man, an atom of the dust, a child of 
earth, an heir of hell, covered over with the smoke 
of the bottomless pit, besmeared all over with the 
leprosy of abominable crimes : — see Jehovah delib- 
erating whether his own Son or man he should 
spare. How wondrous it is ! How amazing that 
such deliberations should be followed by such re- 
sults ! Hear the declaration of the apostle on the 
subject ; hear the oracles of God telling us the re- 
sult of the whole deliberation : u He spared not 
his only Son, but freely gave him up for us all." 
O, amazing act of generosity ! of noble interference ! 
of high, unutterable love ! In fact, we have no lan- 
guage at all to express it ; the mind of an angel, 



/ 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 359 



as well as the mind of man, is overwhelmed and 
confounded ; we must all sit down together in the 
attitude of little children ; we can only proclaim, 
" O, the depths, the heights, of the knowledge of 
God — they are past finding out ! " " Him, being de- 
livered by the determinate counsel and foreknowl- 
edge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands 
crucified and slain." 

IV. Although we have no line wherewith w T e can 
fathom this mystery, wherewith we can reach the 
depths — no means of ascertaining the height, and 
breadth, and length of this profound mystery — we 
find no difficulty to see the design of it. This is 
the last point, The design and the end on ac- 
count OF AND FOR WHICH JeSUS OF NAZARETH 

WAS DELIVERED UP TO THIS DEATH A DEATH SO 

EXTRAORDINARY IN ITS NATURE, AND SO DOLOROUS 
IN ITS CIRCUMSTANCES. 

He was delivered up for wdiat ? for whom ? Not 
for his own iniquity, for he had none; not for him- 
self, for he was no transgressor. He was conceived 
and born in all the beauties of holiness. From the 
manger to the cross he was holy, harmless, unde- 
fined, and separate from sinners. He could chal- 
lenge the bitterest of his enemies and say, " Which 
of you convinces me of sin ? " And the very cir- 
cumstances attendant on his death' illustrated and 
proclaimed the fact of the innocency of his life. 
Pontius Pilate, the judge that presided, called for 
water and said, " I will have nothing to do with 
this innocent man : I am clear." The wife of the 
judge had a dream about the matter, and so did 



360 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



the dream lie upon her spirit, that, unusual as it 
was to send any message to a judge on the bench, 
she sent to him on the bench, and said, " Have 
thou nothing to do with the blood of this man." 
Judas, the traitor that had betrayed him, that had 
bartered him away for thirty pieces of silver, ran 
in among the chief priests in a frenzy, flung down 
the money, and said, " I have sinned in that I have 
betrayed innocent blood." The thief upon the 
cross said, " This man hath done nothing amiss." 
The centurion, with his hundred of soldiers planted 
around the cross to make certain of the fulfill- 
ment of the sentence, said first, to the honor of 
his humanity, " This was a righteous man ! " and 
then exclaimed, to the honor of his divinity, " Truly 
this righteous man was the Son of God ! " And 
thus wisdom is justified, not only of her children, 
but by her enemies also. The very things that 
were intended to tarnish his innocence were the 
means of eliciting and establishing it ; and that 
not before half of the people, but when all the peo- 
ple were gathered together, from Dan to Beersheba. 
So true it is, that he was delivered not for his own 
iniquity— for he never had any. 

Now, we are only acquainted with the iniquity 
of angels and men — with the iniquity of fallen 
angels, and the iniquity of our own species — and 
the question is narrowed to this : If Jesus were not 
delivered for his own iniquity — having none at all 
— (it comes to this) he was delivered for the iniqui- 
ty either of angels that sinned, or for our iniquity. 
Now, then, for which of the two was it ? Was it 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 361 



for the iniquity of the angels ? He passed by the 
angels ; he took not hold of their nature : he never 
was found in fashion as an angel. O, I love the 
angels ! and I will tell you why I love them : among 
a thousand other reasons, I love them for this — 
that they do not envy man the grandeur and 
glory of his being redeemed by the Son of God, 
while that part of their own specie s that sank into 
rebellion, went away from God, was not taken hold 
of by the purposes of Jehovah, was not taken 
hold of by the Son of God. When Jesus of Naz- 
areth was born the angels sang. What did they 
sing ? What did they shout over the plain of Beth- 
lehem ? " Glory to God in the highest, and in hell 
peace?" No; and because they could not sing, 
" in hell peace," did they refuse to sing, " on earth 
peace ?" They could not say, and they did not say 5 
u good will to devils, to our lost brethren ; " but they 
could say, and they did say, " Good will to man." 
Jesus of Nazareth was " delivered for our offenses, 
and was raised for our justification." He took 
hold of our nature; "the chastisement of our 
peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are 
healed." Jesus Christ, the just, delivered himself 
up for us the unjust, that he might bring us to 
God. He saw human nature sinking, falling 
plunging into ruin, total and eternal ruin, and he 
felt for us. Why he felt for us rather than for 
angels that sinned, do not ask me ; I know nothing 
about it ; I can tell you nothing about the matter. 
It is enough for me to know that he loves me, and 
loves you, and loves all our apostate race. It is the 



362 The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



grandeur of the Gospel, it is our Gospel, that Jesus 
of Nazareth loved the human race. In spite of its 
sinking, he came after it, and caught it, and snatched 
it, and lifted it out of the ruin that was inclosing 
it in, and gave it back to God. " He died, the 
just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." 

Well, then, here comes in the old, withered, 
good-for-nothing objection of the Socinians, who 
are fain to tell us that this is a very strange pro- 
cedure — tliis is a most unaccountable thing — to say 
that Jesus, the innocent and holy, should suffer for 
the guilty and unholy. They tell us it is an unjust 
thing that the innocent should suffer and atone for 
the guilty. But, then, I ask them, Why did he suffer, 
for what did he suffer, if it was not to atone for the 
guilty ? There was some end to be answered by 
the sufferings of the cross. When a holy being, so 
distinguished, endured such suffering, there must 
have been some end in view. Why, then, I ask, 
did he suffer ? O, they say, he suffered to give us 
an example of suffering, to give us an example of 
magnanimity, to give us a model of patience under 
suffering. And they talk about justice ! They bring 
an accusation of forming a monstrous doctrine 
when I say, Jesus Christ died to atone for a guilty 
world, while they say he died for a reason not a 
millionth part so good ! If there is injustice in his 
dying to save a world from the curse of God, there 
is a million times more monstrous injustice in his 
dying merely to teach us how to suffer. He died 
by his own consent. He was delivered up, the 
text indeed says, by the determinate counsel of 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



363 



God, and by the wicked hands, or hearts, of the 
Jews ; but he was delivered up as much by his own 
will, by his own consent, as he was either by the 
determinate counsel of the Father, or the wicked 
hands and hearts of the Jews. O, what a lovely 
victim is Christ — not unwillingly dragged to the 
altar ! not unwillingly pressed upon the altar ! O, no ! 
What bound him to the cross ? Was it the nails % 
If he had never been fastened by any thing but 
nails, he had never been fastened at all. It was 
love that carried him to the cross ; it was love that 
bound him to the cross : it was love to us that 
led him to go to the high altar; and it was love to 
us that fastened him to that altar. 

O, for this love of Christ — this love of God ! 
There it is ! I am fast ; you must ask me no more. 
If you ask me why Jesus died for you, I can only 
say, Because he loved you. If you ask me why he 
loved you rather than the angels, I can give no 
answer at all. I am lost in an ocean of love ! I can 
go no lower ; I do not want to go higher or deep- 
er. It is LOVE. 

0, for this love let rocks and hills 

Their lasting silence break ! 
And all harmonious human tongues 

The Saviour's praises speak." 

I am anxious, before I close the subject, to have 
the matter brought home to your consciences, and 
to know how you stand affected to this great sub- 
ject ; to know whether or not you have believed 011 
this Saviour, and partaken of this salvation. It is 
not enough to hear of this crucifixion, and the 



364 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



love that prompted it : there must be a personal 
appropriation of the benefit of the death of Christ ; 
and the blood that was poured out on Mount Cal- 
vary — the blood that was shed there — must be 
poured out on our hearts — must be applied here ; the 
blood that was shed eighteen hundred years ago 
must be sprinkled on our hearts now, to-night, this 
hour, this moment. " His blood be on you and on 
your children ! " May it be sprinkled on all, to wash 
away your sins, to justify your persons, to sanctify 
vour natures. O, if the blood of the Lamb shall 
be found upon you at your dying day, at the day 
of judgment, happy are ye; u happy the people 
that are in such a case ! " You remember reading 
of the case of the children of Israel, of the sprink- 
ling of the blood of the paschal lamb upon the 
door-posts of the houses in Egypt. Why was that 
blood sprinkled on the door-posts ? You say it 
was to distinguish the houses of the Israelites from 
the houses of the Egyptians. What ! could not the 
omniscience of Jehovah distinguish between the 
houses of Israel and the houses of Egypt without 
a visible mark being upon the doors of one class, to 
identify them ? As I take it, the true, the grand 
reason, why the blood of the paschal lamb was 
sprinkled on the door-posts of the houses of Israel 
was to teach you, and your children, and your 
children's children, to the latest generation of those 
that shall accompany you to the throne of God, 
that the atonement of Christ must be applied by 
faith — that the blood shed must be sprinkled. It 
was not enough that the passover was killed, that 



The Wesleyait Demosthenes. 365 



the blood of the lamb was poured out — but it must 
be applied; and as the blood was sprinkled on the 
door-posts, so the blood of the atoning Lamb must 
be applied to us by faith. 

For my part, I see no reason why the application 
should not take place this instant. I feel assured 
that as to many it has taken place already ; but I 
fear as to some, I fear as to several, the application 
has not yet taken place ; and if you die before it 
occurs it had been better for you never to have 
been born. And why do you not look for the ap- 
plication to be made just now? You very likely 
w r ill admit, with the preacher, that the application 
must take place some time or other, some how or 
other, before you die ; but then you have a strange 
way of setting about the matter. At present you 
think, some how or other, in some indefinable and 
mysterious manner, the thing is to take place ; I tell 
you it is to take place by the application of the 
truth of the Gospel, and I know no time and no 
occasion so likely for the application to take place 
as when you are hearing the Gospel in w T hich the 
truth is revealed — as when you are in the house of 
God, on the day of God. You are at the pool- 
side, but I want you to get into the pool. It was 
quite mournful, it was quite melancholy, to hear 
the story of the man lying at the pool all those 
years. You are here ; get into the pool. You must 
not be at it merely, but must step in. May the 
angel trouble the waters, that you may wash and 
be made whole ! May you believe and be saved, 
believe and live forever! Amen and Amen. 



366 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



XIII. 

THE GLORIOUS PURSUIT AND SUBLIME DESTINY 
OF THE CHRISTIAN. 

" Seek those things that are above." — Colossians iii, 1. 

While irrational creatures, by the constitution of 
their nature, are concerned only for the present 
moment, it is incumbent on man to consider his 
relationship to a future world, and to prepare for 
and anticipate its enjoyments, as being those only 
which are adapted to his wide-ranging capacity 
and interminable existence. 

The reality of a future and superior state has 
been clearly revealed to us — not to supply matter 
and occasion of curious and idle speculation, but 
to influence our conduct and affections, our life and 
conversation; to throw a sacred and immortal 
radiance over the present scene of our being, 
through which men too generally pass without 
thought, and from which they retire without hope. 

It is recorded of Socrates, that he brought men 
down from heaven to earth; that is, he drew the 
attention of men from the study and contemplation 
of heavenly bodies, to the consideration of the na- 
ture and end of man, the duties and relations of 
men in this life. Socrates, therefore, was said to 
have brought down philosophy from heaven to 
earth. But of Jesus Christ it may be said, that he 
brings us from earth to heaven; he teaches us a 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



367 



divine philosophy ; raises man from things seen, 
and temporal, and earthly, to things spiritual, 
heavenly, and eternal. He hath entered the heav- 
enly places, and we are invited and entreated to 
follow. There is no subject to which the Script- 
ures more frequently solicit our attention than 
this. They constantly stamp this life with impor- 
tance, by calling upon us to consider its relation- 
ship to that state of rest and blessedness in heaven 
which is the ultimate design of the Almighty con- 
cerning his rational offspring — a state in which the 
human mind will be carried to the highest pitch 
of improvement, and in which all the might of the 
human faculties, thus improved, will find appropri- 
ate and delightful exercise. How fitted is the 
revelation of such a state to awaken the attention 
and enkindle the desire of every living thing that 
is heir to immortality ! And how effectually were 
the first Christians encouraged by it to endure all 
that trial of cruel mocking and scourging, bonds 
and imprisonment, tortures and death, to which 
they were called for righteousness 5 sake ! And 
what will so detach our hearts from the low and 
sordid vanities of earth ; what will so guard us 
from its intoxicating and polluting pleasures ; what 
will so sustain and exhilarate us amid its keen and 
varied sorrows ; and, in short, what will so enable 
us to possess our souls in patience under all that 
we have to do, and all that we have to suffer, in 
this the house of our pilgrimage, as the continual 
thought, the bright prospect, the well-assured hope, 
of the glories that are at God's right hand ? Hence 



368 The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



the inspired writers are constantly directing our 
thoughts to heaven ; instructing and exhorting us 
to elevate our affections to the things that are 
above. Listen to the entreaty of the apostle in the 
words of the text : " Seek ! " With impressive and 
affectionate solemnity and earnestness he calls upon 
us to "Seek those things that are above." Our 
remarks shall turn on 

I. The things themselves to which reference is 
here made ; 

II. The conduct enjoined in relation to them ; and, 

III. The motives that should impel us to this 
conduct. 

I. The sublime object to which the exhorta- 
tion of the apostle relates. By " the things 
above " we understand the future blessedness, per- 
fection, and glory of believers in heaven. In this 
explanation we are supported by the latter part 
of the verse and of the sentence in which the words 
of the text lie. u Seek those things that are 
above," <; where," adds the apostle, " Christ sitteth 
at the right hand of God." Now, at the right 
hand of God, as the sixteenth Psalm teaches, are 
transcendent joys and eternal pleasures. u At thy 
right hand," exclaims the devout prophet, " there 
is fullness of joy and pleasures for evermore.^ 
These, then, are the things above, even those 
which are at God's right hand — the mighty joys, 
the august exercises, the transporting pleasures, 
of an eternal heaven. 

Men's views differ concerning future, as they 
differ on the nature of present happiness, and on 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 369 



the way and means of attaining that which is 
future. Some think of it merely as a continuation 
of being, from which is excluded all pain, and 
want, and sorrow — a mere negative heaven. Some 
regard it as consisting in the active and uninter- 
rupted exercise of their present senses and facul- 
ties — the full and free indulgence of their present 
tastes and affinities, inclinations and desires, hab- 
its and pursuits : a Mohammedan heaven. Others, 
stretching somewhat farther, place it in an exten- 
sion of all their pleasurable faculties, perceptions, 
and sensibilities, with a vast augmentation of new 
means of gratification and enjoyment. All our 
real knowledge of it is gathered from the Script- 
ure; and whatever is not drawn from revelation, 
or is at variance with its testimony on this subject, 
is not to be regarded. 

Man, by searching, cannot find out God or 
heaven; by his own penetration and unaided sa- 
gacity, he can neither find out what God is, nor 
where he dwells — neither his true nature, nor the 
palace in which he unvails his beauty and glory. 
Life and immortality are brought to light, but 
only by Jesus Christ in the Gospel. From this 
source alone we derive all our just and appropriate, 
all our pure and influential, conceptions on this 
momentous and lofty theme. 

Owing to the thick vail that sin and mortality 
have spread over our mind, we know, even with 
the revelation that God has graciously favored us, 
little in comparison of what is to be known. 
Such is the darkening, and debasing, and debilita- 
24 



370 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



ting influence of the clouds and fogs of earth and 
sense and sin, which now envelope us, that of heav- 
en, its duties and exercises, its felicities and glories, 
" we know but in part." Besides, so much has 
not been revealed as to gratify the entire of our 
curiosity, or satisfy the whole of our anxious wishes 
and desires in relation to the future and celestial 
state of man. The fact itself of the heavenly 
blessedness of saints is abundantly clear; but 
wherein consists the blessedness? of how many 
parts is it composed ? what various ingredients en- 
ter into it? what is its length, and breadth, and 
height ? What mind can fully conceivc,what tongue 
adequately declare ? Yet sufficient is made known 
to answer the merciful purposes of our Father in 
heaven, and to meet the pressing and affecting ne- 
cessities of his human offspring, while journeying 
on through the shadows and wilderness of earth 
and time : and heaven and eternity themselves 
must disclose the rest. Yes, happily for us, enough 
may be seen through the interposing clouds to 
awaken regard, to stimulate attention, to kindle 
desire, to rouse from our criminal and destructive 
apathy; enough to throw the stillness of a solemn 
awe over our minds in the midst of the gayest and 
busiest scenes of this world, and to start, and 
quicken, and sustain us in a career of new, and 
upward, and holy conduct. The eye of faith be- 
holds the land afar off, sees the King in his beauty, 
and gazes on the glories of the new Jerusalem. 
How gracious and condescending are many of the 
aspects in which the Scriptures exhibit the heav- 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 371 



en of the believer. It is held forth to our view as 
a banquet, where our sou's shall be satisfied for 
evermore : the beauties of Jehovah's face, the mys- 
teries of Divine grace, the riches of redeeming 
love, communion with God and the Lamb, fellow- 
ship with the infinite Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
being the heavenly fullness on which we shall 
feed. As a paradise — a garden of fruits and 
flowers, on which our spiritual natures and gra- 
cious tastes will be regaled through one ever 
verdant spring and golden summer; a paradise, 
where lurks no serpent to destroy, and where 
fruits and flowers shall never fade and droop and 
die. As an inheritance — but then an inheritance 
that is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fad- 
eth not away, the inheritance of the saints in 
light. As a kingdom — whose immunities, felici- 
ties, and glories are splendid and vast, permanent 
and real ; quite overwhelming, indeed, to our pres- 
ent feeble imaginings. As a country, over whose 
wide regions we shall traverse in all the might of 
our untried faculties, and in all the glow of new 
and heaven-born energies, discovering and gather- 
ing fresh harvests of intelligence, satisfaction, and 
delight. As a city, whose walls are burnished 
gold, whose pavement is jasper, sardonyx, and 
onyx; through which flows the river of life; the 
inhabitants of which hunger no more, thirst no 
more, sicken no more, weep no more, die no more; 
a city where there is no need of the sun by day, 
in which there is no night at all, and of which the 
Lord God Almighty is the light, and the Lamb 



372 The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



the glory. As a palace, where dwells the Lord 
our righteousness, the King in his beauty dis- 
played — his beauty of holiest love ; in the eternal 
sunshine of whose countenance bask and exult 
the host that worship at his feet. As a building, 
that has God for its maker, immortality for its 
walls, and eternity for its day. As a sanctuary, 
where the thrice-holy Divinity, enshrined in our 
own nature in the person of Immanuel, is wor- 
shiped and adored, without a sigh, without an 
imperfection, and without intermission; where 
hymns of praise, halleluias of salvation, and hosan- 
nas of redemption, uttered by blest voices with- 
out number, ever sound before the throne. As 
a temple, bright with the divine glory, filled with 
the divine presence, streaming with divine beauty, 
and peopled with shining monuments of divine 
goodness, mercy, and grace. 

In further contemplating the celestial blessed- 
ness of believers let us very briefly notice, 

1. The perfection of character toe shall exhibit 
in heaven. — We shall then, indeed, partake of 
God's nature ; be holy as he is holy, awake up w T ith 
his likeness, and so be fully satisfied. It is impos- 
sible for sin or sinners to enter there. All that is 
above is holy. All that are above are holy : the 
throne is holy ; the temple is holy ; the services 
are holy; the inhabitants are holy. There is no 
imperfection above. In one sense Christians are 
perfect now, and here they are perfect in kind ; but 
which of all of them is there that does not lament 
his short-comings, his errors ; that does not feel 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 373 



himself surrounded with manifold infirmities. 
God's salvation now experienced is a salvation from 
sin, so that it has not dominion over us. We now 
have fellowship with the Father and the Son, and 
therefore walk in the light ; and, if faithful to the 
grace, and light, and means that are imparted, sin 
not. But still there are many frailties in us, many 
things in our character, which are positive imper- 
fections; there is much that God has to pity ; but 
in heaven there shall be nothing which God will 
have to pity: on the contrary, he will admire us — 
feel perfect complacency and satisfaction in us. 
We shall be free from wrinkles and spots ; have 
no fadings, or faintings, or blemishes, but shall be 
without any such thing. In heaven are the spirits 
of just men made perfect. On earth how oft we 
have to lament the wanderings of our mind, the 
irregular emotions of our physical frame, the faint- 
ness of our desires, the coldness of our love. O ! 
the thought, that I shall "attain," — that I shall 
u be perfect," — that there will be nothing in me 
unworthy to my God, or unlike my Redeemer, or 
unsuited to the pavilions of immortal beauty and 
glory ! " Him that overcometh will I make a 
pillar in the temple of my Gocl, and he shall go 
no more out : and I will write upon him my new 
name." 

2. The exercises in which they shall be engaged. 
— Ease, it is commonly thought, is necessary to 
repose — to complete and uninterrupted repose ; and 
heaven itself is imagined by many to be a scene 
of inactivity, a region of utter quiescency. But 



374 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



analogy and revelation are against this sentiment. 
Ease is not real happiness, it is not even an ingre- 
dient in happiness. This kind of heaven — one thus 
characterized and composed — would be death 
rather than life ; it would be exemption from pain 
rather than positive bliss. Angels, those natives 
of heaven, those ministers of God's presence, not 
only know, but do his pleasure. And are we not 
taught to pray that our divine Father's will may 
be done on earth, even as angels do it in heaven ? 
The Scriptures have every- where spoken of the 
employments ^ as well as of the happiness, of heaven 
in the most exalted terms. Let us not forget that 
to act in the service of God, and to communicate 
good to others, constitutes, according to the 
Scriptures, one vast and glorious division of celes- 
tial blessedness. Both of what we are to be, and 
what we are to do, many things are said of a high- 
ly interesting nature; and from these, when we 
compare them with diligence and attention, a 
great multitude of other things deeply interesting 
may be derived by irresistible inference. For in- 
stance, those who obtain immortal life are said, by 
our Saviour, to be equal or like to angels. This 
one declaration opens to us a wide field of inquiry 
and conclusion ; and assures us, that whatever 
angels are or do, or are exhibited as being or do- 
ing in the Scriptures, we also shall substantially 
be or do. But the things which angels do, togeth- 
er with their attributes and circumstances, are, as 
exhibited to us in the Scriptures, very numerous 
and very great ; and these irresistibly infer others 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 375 



which are great and numerous also. The number 
and variety of events which make up our system 
hardly strike our minds at all, and probably never 
enter the imagination of most men, even among 
Christians. Yet if we read the Scriptures with 
attention, and believe what we read, we must 
clearly discern that both the number and the vari- 
ety are immense. The inhabitants of heaven serve 
God day and night in his temple. The services of 
those who in this life fill up their duty are cer- 
tainly very numerous ; and are so entirely varied, 
that no two actions among them all are alike. 
How multiplied, then, must be the actions involved 
in a service which night never interrupts ; of a 
mind and a body which are never wearied, and of 
an existence which knows no end ! That they are 
endlessly varied is unanswerably evident from the 
consideration that no two beings in the creation 
and no two events in the providence of God have 
been found exactly alike. Variety is a standing- 
law of created existence and providential dispen- 
sation, and throughout eternity will be the great 
means of disclosing to the intelligent universe the 
glorious thoughts and purposes treasured up from 
everlasting in the omniscient mind. Instead, 
therefore, of being a tame, dull, monotonous, spir- 
itless existence, immortal life is a state of intense 
energy, vast design, and vigorous action, in which 
to know, to love, to do, and to enjoy, will form 
a combination of dignity, glory, and happiness, 
transcending every earthly conception. All this, 
also, will expand, and rise, and improve for ever. 



376 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



This view may tend to moderate the surprise 
and the sorrow that seize and possess the common 
mind at the early deaths of eminent Christians, and 
zealous and laborious and gifted and successful 
young ministers. They are snatched aw^ay from 
the most active and important services, and we 
are apt to think that they are gone into darkness 
and silence, and have sunk into torpor and inac- 
tivity ; but could we trace their flight, and discern 
the lofty and energetic and valuable exercises in 
which their freed spirits are now occupied in some 
of the bright fields of eternity, the wide regions 
of their Maker's universe, and their Redeemer's 
heaven, our wonder at their departure hence 
(even when at their best estate, or in the very ef- 
florescence of all their youthful ardor) would mod- 
erate ; and our grief, free from the bitterness of 
dissatisfaction, would flow on in a current less 
deep and powerful. O they are not lost, though 
their sun has gone down while it is yet day. 
They have but set, to our apprehension, indeed, 
prematurely, beneath our horizon, to rise again 
bright planets in the hemisphere of celestial 
glory. 

3. The happiness of tohicli they shall participate, 
— All the religious experience of earth affords but 
a faint emblem of the bliss of heaven. The delight 
that Christians now experience kindles into rapture 
at the thought of the richer delight that awaits 
them above. Among the children of God in 
heaven (all happy) the degree of happiness may 
vary ; for it depends upon the capacity of enjoy- 



Tlie Wesley an Demosthenes. 377 



ment possessed by each, and this again upon im- 
provement of character, and of talent, and of trust, 
and therefore they who have prepared most for 
heaven, will be most happy in heaven. Saints in 
heaven are perfectly happy, because perfectly 
holy. Here they taste of the streams that flow 
from the infinite fullness of their Father and their 
God ; there they will have to come to the foun- 
tain itself. Here they receive, now and then, a 
bunch of grapes from the better Canaan ; there 
they will have full and free access to the tree of 
life that is in the paradise of God. Here they ob- 
tain an occasional glimpse through the entangle- 
ment of the wilderness, and through the mists and 
fogs that hang over Jordan, and see the green 
fields, and the golden harvests, that wave luxuriant 
and vast on the other side ; there they will jiossess 
the vineyards and well-springs of a perpetual 
Canaan. Here they are sometimes revived by 
sweet odors, wafted over from the mountains of 
spices, that lie on the other side the lions' dens 
and leopards' haunts, among which they at present 
pass ; there every peril is past, and having entered 
through the gates into the city, all is peace, tri- 
umph, and perfection. Here they have many a 
troubled, many a stormy, and many a cloudy day ; 
there they shall have everlasting joy and gladness 
on their heads; and sorrow and sighing, and 
clouds and shadows, and storms and tempests, 
having forever fled away, they shall abide under a 
cloudless sky, in regions of eternal bliss. In this 
land of their captivity they may hang their harps 



378 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



upon the willows, and, yielding to the sorrows 
which fill their hearts, forget to sing the Lord's 
song ; but in that land of accomplished promise 
and finished hope, their harps shall be ever in 
their hands, and the high praises of God in their 
mouths, to fill with their transports of gratitude 
and joy the palace of their king and their God. If 
every step here is through a vale of tears, there it 
is through a land of pure delight. In the house 
of their Father above they shall hunger no more, 
nor thirst any more ; neither shall the sun light 
upon them, nor any heat. And if any recollection 
of former sufferings remain, it will serve only to 
enhance their enjoyments, and augment their 
wonder, as they view the intricate mazes through 
which Divine wisdom conducted them. Our hap- 
piness will be made complete by beholding the 
brightness of the Father's glory, in the vision of 
which we shall rejoice with joy unspeakable ; by 
the presence of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
Yes, there we shall see Jesus — shall behold the 
God-man, our Friend, our Priest, our Sacrifice, 
our All. Then we shall love in return for all his 
infinite love ; and bless and worship him with a 
growing adoration, and dilating gratitude, for ever 
and ever. It will, indeed, be heaven to see our 
Jesus' face ! O the infinitude of our bliss ! when 
we shall see him as he is, and love with a 
passion like his ! O that exquisiteness of joy !— 
those gusts of pure perennial bliss, which the 
saints of God will experience in singing praises 
and songs of deliverance to God and the Lamb, 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 379 



forever ! O what rapture to be engaged in pene- 
trating the mysteries of Providence ; in listening 
to the music of the spheres, and the jubilee of 
the universe ! in gazing with untold ecstasy on 
the face of God and the Lamb, and deriving from 
him, who is the sea of light and love, fullness of 
joy, the pleasures for evermore ! " But eye hath 
not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it en- 
tered into the heart of man to conceive what God 
hath laid up for them that love him." 

4. The Friendships we shall share there. — Man 
is constituted to be happy in society. Place him 
in solitude, and'however exciting and felicitous are 
his circumstances in other respects, he will wither 
and pine away. But above, we shall be with the 
many that shall come from the east, and west, and 
north, and south, and shall sit down with Abra- 
ham, Isaac, and Jacob. The entire heaven of an- 
gels, and the whole host of the redeemed, we 
shall have sweet and improving fellowship with 
forever! The wise and the good, the great and 
the pure, the benevolent and active, from every 
region, will be our companions and associates, 
with whom we shall live, and love, and know, and 
obey, through one eternally enduring day. Of all 
the afflictions to which we are liable, there is none 
so painful as the death of our friends. And O, 
what a consoling balm is the doctrine that we 
shall, in the realms above, be restored to their fel- 
lowship. This doctrine is involved in many pas- 
sages of Scripture : in the account of the last judg- 
ment — in the language of David on the occasion 



380 The Wesley a?i DemostJienes. 



of the death of his infant child by Bathsheba — in 
the parable of the rich man and Lazarus — in the 
consolation which our Saviour gives to the peni- 
tent sinner on the cross — in the assurance adminis- 
tered by the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonian 
believers, that they should be his joy and crown of 
rejoicing in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ 
at his coming — in the same apostle forbidding 
them to sorrow for such as had fallen asleep as 
though they had no hope of being united with 
them, and of being together with the Lord — and 
in the general use which the sacred writers make 
of the word sleep for death, a simile which would 
be flagrantly incorrect if our recollections, our 
friendships and affections, were not renewed in a 
future state. And in general the same doctrine is 
taught also through the whole book of the Revela- 
tion of St. John. Happy prospect, that exalts 
friendship into religion ! What blest society there 
will be above ! 

II. The conduct enjoined in relation to 
these things. We are told by the apostle that 
we should seek them. 

1. This implies or supposes belief of them. — Let 
us attend for a moment to the evidence that proves 
the actual existence of a future state. Those who 
have just conceptions of the perfections of God 
will admit the possibility of it. He who gives us 
existence on this side of the grave can give it on 
the other side. He who has bestowed life in time 
can impart it through all coming eternity. 

Numerous considerations indicate a high degree 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



of probability concerning a future state. Every 
man has a power of thinking and willing, of desir- 
ing and abhorring; feels that he possesses within 
himself a soul, (deathless life,) an active, conscious, 
immaterial principle or nature. And though this 
has its present residence in the body, it is perfectly 
distinct, and essentially different from the clay 
tabernacle in which it is enshrined, and which is 
essential to its manifestation in the present life, 
and therefore its existence will not be involved or 
implicated in the fall of its tabernacle any more 
than a sunbeam is crushed by the fall of an old 
house through which it is passing. The strong de- 
sire of immortality, too, is an argument for it. Why 
should God universally implant a desire he never 
meant to gratify ? This desire shows design. The 
present mode of Divine government indicates the 
same. The justice and wisdom of the Governor 
are covered with dark and impenetrable clouds, if 
the history of man is merely confined to the present 
world and closes altogether with time ; fur vile 
men here are often exalted, and holy men are de- 
pressed. One event often befalls opposite char- 
acters. The common consent of mankind is in 
favor of it. Some kind of belief in a future 
state, and in some sort of future happiness, is very 
general. Even in the natural uninformed mind 
there are strong anticipations of futurity. And the 
idea of the savage, that after death he goes to 
some green and blooming island across the deep 
to dwell with the Great Spirit, appears to be the 
remains of that intuitive impression originally 



382 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



stamped on the human mind as an evidence of its 
immortality. But why do I say that a future 
state of bliss is possible ? Why do I dwell on its 
probability? We are not led to this conclusion 
as a mere matter of reasoning ; as an affair of an 
analogy ; as a thing to be inferred ; I take up my 
Bible and say — there is positive certainty of 
it — a certainty, drawn, not from the fair opera- 
tions of reason, but from the sure, and strong, and 
steady lights of revelation. The testimony of God 
in his Word clears away every doubt concerning 
it, and opens to us the realities of that eternal king- 
dom in which he reigns. The Scriptures amply 
unfold the doctrine of immortality, and show us 
the throne and judgment-seat of the Eternal ; they 
disclose to us, with awakening and irresistible em- 
phasis and clearness, the mansions of the blessed, 
and their dread alternative, the prison of the 
wicked. See this revelation in the Old Testament. 
Enoch was translated, that he should not see 
death, and was not found, fur God took him. The 
Hebrew patriarchs desired a better country. The 
patriarch of Uz knew that in his flesh he should 
see God. Moses had respect to the recompense 
of the reward. David believed he should see God's 
face in righteousness, awake up in his likeness and 
be satisfied. Daniel declares that they that sleep 
in the dust shall awake and come forth. Isaiah 
announces the Jubilee of the dead — the morning 
of their manumission: "Awake and sing, ye that 
dwell in the dust." And another Old Testament 
oracle triumphantly proclaims that " Death is swal- 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 383 



lowed up in victory." But the New Testament 
abounds in this class of evidence. There, life and 
immortality are brought to meridian light, and 
stand confessed most vividly before us. There, 
indeed, from beginning to end God hath promised 
eternal life. Matt, v, 8; Luke xii, 32; Matt. xxv. 
There are things above, then : to seek them, sup- 
poses you have a belief of them ; that you doubt 
not their existence, their reality, their certainty. 

2. It implies That attention should be directed 
toward them. They must be minded, as well as 
believed. The fact of the vast importance of 
these things might lead to the conclusion that the 
duty here enjoined is not likely to be forgotten or 
neglected. We might imagine that all that was 
necessary on this subject is just to convince us of 
the importance of these things, and then leave the 
mind to its own natural sense of what is due to its 
interests, in order to secure the proper line of con- 
duct toward the things thus exhibited. But how 
different all this is from what we know to be the 
fact. When we call to recollection the early bias 
which men have taken, and the downward tend- 
ency by which they are, since the fall, character- 
ized, it is proper to remind them of the necessity 
of the course which the apostle calls " looking at 
the things which are not seen and eternal; seeking 
the things that are above." You may be exposed 
to the secularities of life, and unless you indulge 
and cultivate the upward tendency so emphatically 
expressed in the text, they will fix you down to 
the low level of earthly and every day existence. 



3^4 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



You must attend to the leading course of thought 
and inclination by which your mind is character- 
ized. The thoughts must be turned in this lofty 
direction : — I say thoughts, for it must not be 
thought about heaven now and then merely, with 
long and frightful intervals between, but toward 
the things above the attention must be much di- 
rected. We must feel that religion is the one 
great and essential article in the great business of 
life, for although there is time for every thing, you 
are not to exclude religion from its pre-eminence ; 
you are not to confine it, as a sacred and hidden 
mystery, but to be seen and meditated on at cer- 
tain occasional periods, but rather to diffuse it as a 
coloring through all the substance of life. It is 
true, that household occupations must be attended 
to ; it is true, business, with its manifold require- 
ments, musi be regarded ; it is true, that health 
must not be neglected ; it is true, that calls upon 
our daily bread are ever multiplying and must be 
heeded ; and thus the life of man is frittered and 
broken down. But religion demands not the for- 
getfulness of our worldly duties; and though it 
requires the whole man, yet an individual may ply 
his busy hand through the hours of labor, prose- 
cute his daily employment, relax his feelings amid 
the enjoyments of the domestic circle, indulge in 
the prattle of infancy and all the joyousness of an 
innocent heart, go from one to another in the 
offices of friendship, yet carry religion with him 
into all, and no more resign its complexion than 
that of his face. Whatever be a person's engage- 



The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



385 



ments, there will cling to him something of his 
prevailing temperament, be it sanguine, phlegmat- 
ic, or melancholy ; so religion should adhere to us 
in all our actions, since it demands that whether we 
eat or drink, or whatever we do, we should do all 
to the glory of God. Thus the patriarchs sought 
the things above — of whose piety it is the highest 
eulogy to say, that " they declared plainly that 
they sought a better country — so fixed was their 
attention to sacred and heavenly things. Then let 
us seek them; by a constant and instantaneous re- 
ligion seek the things that are above. To seek 
them, must signify also that we are to, 

3. Set our attachment upon them. Set your 
affections upon things above, it is added in the 
verse after the text. The import of this exhorta- 
tion is, that we are to admire and love them, as 
well as believe and contemplate them. It may be 
objected to this view, that the regard which we 
are now directing to be paid to things future, is 
inconsistent with the attention which is due to the 
interests of the present life. It is, however, cer- 
tain that Christianity enjoins no opposing duties, 
prescribes no incompatible precepts. While we 
are commanded to render to God the things that 
are God's, we are at the same time charged to ren- 
der unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's. While 
we are directed to be fervent in spirit, serving the 
Lord, we are instructed also to be diligent in busi- 
ness. Can it be thought that he who is passing 
through a wilderness, in a state of banishment from 
the scenes and fellowships which he holds most 
25 



386 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



dear, should not often think with emotion of the 
delights, and securities, and sweet societies of a 
permanent and congenial home? 

The history of the Jews when in Babylon, is an 
illustration of the conduct enjoined in the text. 
Did they, while living in Babylon surrounded 
with its absorbing bustle, and engaged in its active 
business, forget the land of Israel, and disregard 
it in their hearts ? Xo ; their recollection of it 
was most vivid and affectionate, deep and practical, 
ardent and constant, and is described in language 
beautiful, fervid, and impressive. Hear their af- 
fecting complaint, Psa. cxxxvii: "By the rivers of 
Babylon, there toe sat down, yea, ice wept, when we 
remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the 
willows" One of these captives is represented as 
expressing himself in the following words: "If 
I forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand for- 
get her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let 
my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ; if I 
prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy ! " Their 
hearts, then, were in Jerusalem, though they so- 
journed in Babylon. The dust and stones of Jeru- 
salem, and the rubbish of its temple and its tow- 
ers, were dearer to them than all the magnificence 
and splendor of the greatest capital of the then 
greatest empire in the world. So should we feel 
and act in reference to the Jerusalem that is 
above; the new, the heavenly Jerusalem. To the 
true believer this world is a desert, dry and barren ; 
and though there may be here and there a spot 
which seems to present inviting verdure, and to 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 387 



court his stay, he lingers not, but presses on, for he 
feels it is not his rest, because it is polluted ; and 
he casts a solicitous look beyond its barren sands, 
to the land of promise, where are his home, his 
treasure, and his heart. And his greatest burden 
of grief is, that the current of his affections should 
ever be interrupted, or that their fervor should be 
repressed, for a single moment, by the trifles and 
vanities of the passing scene. Thus having his 
heart in heaven, his feet are ever moving thither ; 
for when acting and enduring under the impression 
and expectation of heaven and heavenly things, 
his step is firm in the road that leads to things 
above. And when the affections are not only 
lifted up to, but set upon them, neither the length, 
nor the toil, nor the difficulty of the way can 
greatly impede the progress thither. 

4. Diligent and persevering exertions, in order 
to obtain them ; belief of the things that are above 
awakens attention to them ; attention to those 
things gives rise to desires after the possession of 
them ; and those desires, in their turn, give birth 
to exertions, in order to secure the attainment and 
possession of them. He who knows what the 
workings of affection toward an object are, knows 
well that his exertions to secure and attain it are 
just in proportion to the affection and desire with 
which he regards it. 

Now' all that we require in religion is, that you 
act consistently ; that you regard things proposed 
to you with an attention corresponding to their 
suitability and importance ; and that you exert 



388 The Wesley cm Demosthenes. 



yourselves to attain them, with an ardor, and an 
assiduity, and a perseverance, proportionate to 
their desirableness and value. Seeking the things 
above, then, must imply the use of those means 
which are prescribed in Scripture, and the observ- 
ance of those ordinances which have been insti- 
tuted by our Lord and Master as helps on the 
way to heaven. And what are the means whereby 
we are to hold fast, and hold out, and hold on, 
till we obtain them ? I answer, faith and prayer, 
accompanied by the reading of the word of God, 
and devout meditation thereon, together with a 
diligent and earnest attention to the institutions 
of grace and the ordinances of religion. These 
are the means, the conscientious, diligent, and per- 
severing use of which, followed and crowned with 
the blessing of God, will lead you through the 
low vale of humble love to the Paradise that is' 
unfading and eternal. Yes, it is by faith only that 
we can walk in the way of life and peace — the 
road that leads to heaven and God. The shield of 
faith is that alone whereby we are able to quench 
the ftery darts of the wicked one and to overcome 
the world. Its influence alone can sanctify the 
character and purify the heart, and give sub- 
stance and evidence to things not seen and eternal 
■ — the things that are above. And it is only by 
prayer that faith can be kept alive and active, and 
become omnipotent, as it was with Moses ; to 
whom what Aaron and Hur were, (holding up his 
hands when Israel fought against Amalek,) prayer 
is to faith. And the ordinances of religion stretch 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 389 

the arms of faith and fan the breath of prayer, and 
feed and inflame our desires and longings after the 
heavenly worship. It is in them that our charac- 
ters receive their best impressions — their holiest 
influence. Faith will lead you to the ground of 
all your hope, the spring of all your joys ; and 
prayer, in union with faith, will bring Christ down 
from heaven to be your staff of dependence and 
your rod of defense ; for of yourselves you can do 
nothing. Faith will lead you to feed on the bread 
of God — the manna from above ; and prayer will 
draw around you the atmosphere of heaven, out 
of which you will derive those influences of grace 
that shall strengthen and comfort you for the rest 
of the way. You may have to pass through tribu- 
lation, yea, through much tribulation ; but it is the 
way to the kingdom. The farther you advance on 
the road, the humbler will you become ; and the 
nearer you come to heaven, the more lively will 
be your apprehensions of the necessity of holiness, 
and the more strenuous and constant your pur- 
suit of it : "I count not myself to have apprehend- 
ed : but this one thing I do, forgetting those things 
which are behind, and reaching forth unto those 
things which are before, I press toward the mark 
for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ 
Jesus." 

III. Some motives or considerations which 
should impi;l us to thcs conduct, especially those 
which lie in the neighborhood of the text. Be 
persuaded to it — 

1. From a regard to consistency of conduct, — ■ 



390 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



Consistency is that agreement that every part of 
a man's conduct should have to the character 
which he sustains and the profession that he makes. 
Sometimes it may be difficult to be consistent ; but 
generally, from the very harmony that the part 
we have to perform has with our character and 
principles, there is a pleasure and satisfaction in 
its performance; for it holds true, that what sym- 
metry is to the bodily frame, that consistency is to 
the moral character of an individual. And, wheth- 
er from some original fitness in the nature of the 
things themselves, or from some arbitrary associa- 
tions that take plnce in the mind, that which is 
consistent is not hard to be discovered. Even in 
the representation of ideal character this is stud- 
ied and attended to ; and whenever the laws of 
association are violently severed and broken, the 
effect is painful and disappointing. Fiction pleases 
only so far as it corresponds with real character. 
Without this consistency there could be no uni- 
formity in the human character; all would be un- 
natural, disjointed, harsh, injurious, unlovely; one 
great moral cha*'S ; a sea of things mischievous, 
monstrous, and offensive. Soldiers running away 
in battle ; judges violating those laws which they 
were sworn to maintain and defend ; a man, dis- 
tinguished by wisdom and ^prudence, erudition and 
sagacity, giving himself up to the most ridiculous, 
and absurd, and degrading follies ; a man bowed 
down with a multitude of years and their accumu- 
lated infirmities, embarking in the most extensive, 
laborious, and speculative enterprises of worldly 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 391 



business, are all inconsistencies — they are palpable 
and monstrous incongruities. 

And can it be thought less inconsistent in a dis- 
ciple of Christ and a child of God to be eagerly 
grasping after the vanities and fortunes of earth, 
at the same time that his heart, and his home, and 
his treasure are professedly in heaven ? Thus, in 
religious character, there is a consistency which 
is imperative, beautiful, and advantageous. jS t <> 
doubt Christians have many other motives to holy 
conduct besides that which arises from the desire 
and the obligation to maintain the consistency of 
their character; but they do not overlook the all- 
compelling argument in favor of such conduct, 
which grows out of their new state and character. 
"If," bays the apostle, "ye be risen with Christ, 
seek," etc. You who were " dead in your sins and 
the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath God quick- 
ened together with Christ." If, then, he argues 
with irresistible point and force, if ye be thus 
changed, and are " risen with Christ, seek" etc. 
The distinction betw r een their present and their 
former state is not a distinction without a differ- 
ence, but a distinction so great as to be set forth 
in the Scriptures under images and illustrations of 
the most decisive and striking nature : they are 
turned from darkness to light — they have passed 
from death unto life — they have gone forth out of 
the pit, and emerged from the dungeon — they are 
created anew, and born again — in short, " they 
who are dead in sins are quickened together, and 
are risen w T ith Christ." From so great a difference 



392 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



of state, it is expected that the greatest difference 
of conduct should follow. Every view of the 
Christian's character given us in the Scriptures 
shows us the importance and necessity of con- 
sistency of conduct. Is he set forth as running a 
race? then his eye must be upon the prize, and he 
must press toward the mark of it with all possible 
diligence and earnestness. Is he held up as a 
combatant ? then he is never to be without his 
arms, never to sleep upon his post, or to relax in 
his energies, until all the field is won and pro- 
claimed won. Is he a citizen ? then he is to cher- 
ish a sense of the advantages, privileges, and im- 
munities of his high destiny, and to walk worthy 
of his exalted vocation. Is he a member of one 
vast and holy family ? then he must adhere to the 
principle that animates and actuates the whole, or 
he will interrupt and disturb its harmony and per- 
fection ? Is he in Christ? then he must abide in 
him, and so bring forth much fruit, that his God 
and Father may be glorified. In short, is he a 
child of God, and an heir of glory ; is he risen with 
Christ? then he must seek the things that are 
above, where Christ sitteth. 

What should we think of him that is heir to a 
great monarchy, collecting and arraying himself in 
the rags and tatters of a pauper? and yet such 
conduct would not be as inconsistent as ours is if 
we prefer earth to heaven. We should consider 
it as an act of meanness, in one possessed of un- 
bounded affluence, to be collecting every straw, 
and gathering all the refuse that he could find ; 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 393 



and yet such conduct would not be as inconsistent 
as ours, who profess to be risen with Christ, is, if 
we seek the tilings below, and not the things that 
are above. And is there any thing in the riches 
of earth that can for one moment be compared with 
the things that are above — the riches of a blissful 
eternity ? Is there any thing in the honors of this 
life that can for a single instant be put in competi- 
tion with that glory which is to be revealed in the 
saints ? Is there any thing in the pleasures of time 
that can be balanced with the joys that are at God's 
right hand — the pleasures in his presence for ever- 
more ? Seeing, then, that you look for such things, 
what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy 
conversation ! 

2. On account of the reasonableness of the duty 
itself, I would enforce it upon you. 

And let me ask, Can there be any thing more 
reasonable than that, among the multiplicity of 
things which press upon and court our attention, 
we should seek those that are most excellent and 
most enduring? The things that are below — the 
riches, the pleasures, the honors, the business, the 
bustle, and whatever else this short enduring world 
can give — all earthly things are gross and unsatis- 
factory, hollow and vain, blighted and mildewed, 
and cannot constitute the felicity of man, being 
neither suited to the spiritual nature nor to the 
immortal duration of our souls ; they can neither 
satisfy us while we live, nor preserve us from death, 
nor accompany us into the other world, nor con. 
tribute any thing to our happiness there. And if 



394 The Wesley mi Demosthenes. 



they can do nothing toward our real and appropri- 
ate felicity, why should we so eagerly seek them ; 
why set our hearts upon them ? They that seek 
for happiness in earthly things are like the women 
sitting over our Saviour's sepulcher, with their 
faces bowed down to the earth ; they seek the liv- 
ing among the dead : our happiness is not here, it 
is risen, it is above. Let our hearts ascend thither, 
where our happiness and our treasure are. If the 
things among which we grovel for the food and 
light of our imperishable nature had a mouth and 
a tongue, and could speak to us, they would say, 
u Why look ye so earnestly on us?" as though we 
could satisfy your immortal cravings. Are we in 
God's stead — in Christ's place — in heaven's room ? 
Look not on us — we are but things seen and tem- 
poral. As well might the chemist look for the 
philosopher's stone among the dust of the streets, 
or hope to elaborate the elixir vitas from the pol- 
luted water of a stagnant lake, as we expect to 
find among the things below the bliss of our undy- 
ing spirits. God never put it into them : and noth- 
ing can be to us more than God intended it. In 
our pursuit of the things of this world as our 
chief good, we are following after vanity, hunting 
a shadow, pursuing a fallacy. And why should we 
bestow our thoughts, our desires, our longings, and 
afieetions, upon these unreal and fallacious, low and 
mean things, and when there are incomparably 
better objects to fix them upon? 

Besides, the unreasonableness of seeking things 
beneath will appear still more from their shortness 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



395 



and transitoriness. The fashion of this world pass- 
eth away, but the things which are above abide and 
endure for ever and ever. Like the bubble that is 
blown, and that when the rays of light fall on it 
glitters in all the colors of the rainbow, but while 
we gaze bursts and is no more — like the gourd, 
which casts its cooling shade against the vehement 
noon-tide heat, but, ere the next day's sun, has 
utterly withered away — like the flower, that blooms 
and sheds its fragrance in the morning, but in the 
evening its beauty and its odor are gone — like the 
shadow that flings itself for a moment across our 
path, and then declineth — like a vapor that appeal - 
eth and is quickly dissipated, and we see it no 
more — so rapidly the things that are beneath con- 
sume and flee away. O "what shadows we are, 
and what shadows we pursue ! " ~No ! shadows toe 
are not, "though shadows we pursue." O let us 
elevate our thoughts from time to eternity, and 
transfer our affections from earth to heaven. All 
below perish in the using; but the things that are 
above are so lofty and pure, so sublime and godly, 
so real and true, that the very desire of them gives 
the mind an elevation, and a strength, and a purity, 
which in themselves are most improving, most 
grateful, valuable, and important. 

But perhaps it may be objected against the un- 
reasonableness of the course which we are now en- 
joining, that to require a person in one situation to 
be continually directing his anticipations and prep- 
arations toward another and a future one, is im- 
practicable and absurd. This objection arises either 



396 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



from ignorance of the nature and influence of 
religious exercises and pursuits upon man's present 
and social state, or from willful perversion of the 
truth. So far is the duty enjoined from being in- 
compatible with a due regard to the just interests 
and engagements to the present life, that a proper 
attention to them is secured by religious principles ; 
for it is by a patient continuance in well doing 
thut we are to seek for glory, honor, immortality, 
eternal life ; not by visions and reveries, seclusions, 
and abstractions ; not by an idle and voluptuous 
sentimentalism. 

It is true we have seen the disciples of the Church 
of Rome thus unfitting and indisposing themselves 
for the appropriate and necessary avocations and 
duties and intercourse of social and civil life, un- 
der pretense of deeper devotedness and higher 
sanctity, and of cultivating closer and more unin- 
terrupted communion with things above. But this 
is the abuse of religion ; this is being wise above 
what is written : it is substituting the traditions of 
man for the commandments of God. 

Here we are educating for futurity, and the use 
and end of education is to prepare for scenes and 
situations, for services and engagements that are 
future and distant. Is it considered unreasonable 
and improper in a parent to inure his child to the 
thought of the future — to lead him to anticipate it 
— to fit and qualify him for acting his part well in 
it ? Surely not. Is it wisdom and kindness in him 
to discipline and educate his child, and so prepare 
him for his coming manhood? The parent knows 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 397 



that his child will not remain a child — that he will 
outgrow childhood, and stretch into maturity, and 
he cannot endure the thought that his child is to 
become a man, and not be fitted for manhood. No 
more is it unreasonable in an expectant of immor- 
tality to seek for a preparation for immortality : 
reason says that the heir of eternity should labor 
to be made meet for eternity. Dismal thought! 
to plunge into eternity unfit for it — without any 
relish for its joys, or capacity for its duties, or title 
to its rewards. O then be ready for eternity, for 
it cometh in such an hour as we think not. O let 
it not surprise you unawares, let it not overwhelm 
you in a state of unpreparedness. To make ] rep- 
aration for it is the strongest reason, the highest 
wisdom, the truest philosophy, the deepest science : 
this is true religion. Hence we are exhorted by 
the inspired teachers to lay up treasure in heaven, 
and forbidden to be cumbered and troubled about 
many things. 

We should be prompted to this on account of — 
3. The present advantages which residt from it. 
By a wise appointment of God, duty and inter- 
est are joined, and as we attend to one so the 
other will be promoted. Godliness is profitable 
for all things, having promise of the life that now 
is, as well as of that which is to come. Religion 
"is our life' 5 even now. All things work together 
for good to them that love God. To be engaged 
in setting our affections on things above is that 
very exercise which is the best calculated to pro- 
mote our present welfare and immediate comfort. 



398 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



For when the thoughts and affections are set on 
things above, they are placed on their proper ob- 
ject, they are attached to their appropriate center, 
raid the result must be rest of spirit, inward tran- 
quillity, satisfaction, and harmony. So that, inde- 
pendent of our prospects in futurity itself, were we 
merely to consult our true interests in the present 
state, we must be induced to obey the direction of 
the apostle from the singularly happy influence 
which it exerts on the actual condition of the 
mind. 

While our thoughts and affections are set on the 
things above, worldly prosperity will not greatly 
elevate, nor worldly adversity much depress; the 
one will not intoxicate, the other will not destroy. 
The Christian's great treasure knows no decay. His 
most valuable possession is not liable to the con- 
tingencies to which all earthly things are subject. 
He is hastening to an incorruptible inheritance, a 
kingdom that cannot be moved. And 

"A hope so much divine 
May trials well endure." 

You, who know that you have in heaven a better 
and enduring substance ; that are sure of a place 
at God's right hand — a mansion in the skies — a 
bower in paradise — a seat in glory — a repose in 
Abraham's bosom — an asylum, a refuge, a house, a 
shelter in eternity ; you, that are going to the gen- 
eral assembly and Church of the first-born, to the 
innumerable company of angels, to Jesus the Media- 
tor of the new covenant, and to God the Judge of 



The Wesley a u Demosthenes. 



399 



all; to the general rendezvous of the just, the 
gathering of the called, the faithful, and the chos- 
en, you can afford a few trials by the way. You 
can smile at the transient storm, remembering the 
haven for which you are bound. Tour little bark 
may feel the dash and fury of the storm, but her 
anchor is cast within the haven, and she will out- 
ride the billows and defy their rage. The be- 
liever has cast anchor in heaven, and though he 
may suffer from the storms of life, he cannot be a 
wreck. You that are trees of righteousness, the 
planting of the Lord, may bend before the blast as 
it whistles and howls around you, but you shall 
not be broken by it. Let winds blow and tem- 
pests roar, they will take away nothing but leaves ; 
the tree is safe, and can neither be shivered nor 
torn up, being fast rooted by the throne of God ; 
and the fruit it bears is to life eternal. So Ave hear 
the pious of every age expressing and solacing 
themselves amid the Fluctuation of surrounding 
circumstances, and the depression to which it gives 
rise. David exclaims, "though the mountains," 
etc. Habakkuk: " Although the fig-tree shall not 
blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the 
labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall 
yield no meat ; the flocks shall be cut off from the 
fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls : yet I 
will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of 
my salvation." Paul : " I reckon that the suffer- 
ings of this present time are not worthy to be 
compared with the glory that shall be revealed in 
us." Ail believers may say, " We are cast down, 



400 The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



yet not destroyed — sorrowful, yet always rejoicing 
— patient in tribulation, yet rejoicing in hope." 
The Christian can bear the loss of those things 
that perish in the using, knowing that he has bags 
which wax not old, riches that never decay, a 
treasure in the heavens, unfading and eternal. 

4. Above all — be entreated to seek the things 
above, because they are the scenes in which Christ 
dwells. This is the argument with which the 
apostle enforces the injunction. There is Christ in 
his rest and glory; and where he is will you not 
seek to be also ? And is it not the object of his 
affectionate solicitude that you may be with him 
in his glory ? Hear that prayer from one whom 
the Father heareth always, and exult in what you 
hear: "Father, I will that they also, whom thou 
hast given me, be with me where I am ; that they 
may behold my glory." It is the presence of 
Christ in heaven that will make it so rich a heaven 
to you, you saved sinner. Have you not enjoyed 
his presence in some favored seasons on earth, and 
have not its manifestations been most sweet and 
exhilarating ? If such are the streams, what must 
be the fountain? If such the glimpses, what will 
be the full and unclouded gaze? Times of re- 
freshing even now are from the presence of the 
Lord ; what will be the high felicities of his heav- 
enly presence ! If communion with him (through 
media) be so delightful that it supplies our souls 
with heavenly food, and our seasons of its enjoy- 
ment are the bright spots of our journey to the 
upward house, what must it be to sit at his feet in 



The Wesley cm DemostJienes. 401 



glory, to gaze upon that face of his that shineth 
like the sun in bis strength, and to hold intimate 
and unbroken fellowship with him whose smile 
irradiates the whole paradise of God ? This is all 
we desire — to be with the Lord! this is the sum- 
mit of our wishes ! True, we read of the splen- 
dor of the Almighty King — of the golden streets, 
the jasper pavement, the angel choirs, the swell- 
ing chorus of eternity : but this word, " we shall 
be ever with the Lord, be where Christ sitteth," 
conveys to us more of heaven than all the meta- 
phorical emblems of it, august and gorgeous, deli- 
cious and delirious as they are! It was this that 
made John, who leaned on the breast of Jesus as 
he sat at meat, say, (1 John iii, 2 5 ) " Now are we 
the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what 
we shall be; but we know that when he shall 
appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him 
as he is." To Him all heaven in one thanksgiving 
joins, saying, 44 Worthy is the Lamb that was 
slain to receive riches, and power, and wisdom, 
and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing/' 
And do we not feel solicitous to go up on high, 
that we too may swell the music of adoration and 
gratitude which is rendered him there ? Surely it 
is our desire to "behold the Lamb" upon the 
throne, and to join in that immortal song which as- 
cribes to him that which is so justly his due. Seek 
the things above, then, for there Christ sitteth. 

5. Finally, be admonished by the consideration 
of the dreadful alternative which must inevitably 
follow the neglect of this duty. If you seek them 
26 



402 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



not, you will be excluded from them forever. If 
you are not preparing for heaven, you nre for bell. 
If you follow not holiness you cannot see the Lord. 
If you refuse to seek the things above, you are 
seeking death in the error of your ways. It is 
only to those who have given diligence to make 
their calling and election sure that an entrance 
can be ministered into the everlasting kingdom of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Prepare, then, 
to meet your God, for if you do not he will meet 
you as a bear bereaved of her whelps, and will 
rend the caul of your heart. O then, as you would 
not lie down in sorrow, nor make your abode in 
the flames of hell, nor dwell where the howlings 
and wailings of damnation fill the place with noise 
more dreadful than ten thousand thunders, nor be 
fastened upon by a worm that can never be shaken 
off, nor consumed by a fire that can never be 
quenched ; as you would not be undone and lost 
forever, O seek. I entreat, I beseech, I conjure you, 
by ail that is delightful in heaven, and by all that is 
dreadful in hell ; by the authority of God your 
Maker, and by the love of Christ your Redeemer, 
and by the strivings of the Holy Ghost ; by the 
necessities of your immortal spirit ; by the ap- 
proach of death, and the solemnity of judgment, 
and the tremendousness of eternity; by all I pray 
you to seek the things that are above. 

In conclusion. I think I may say that I am set 
free from the necessity of making a stated applica- 
tion by the tenor of the discourse itself. I trust, 
however, that you have made inquisition into the 



The We shy an Demosthenes. 403 



matter as we have proceeded, testing your charac- 
ters as the professed disciples of Christ by the 
views that have been supplied. Examine well the 
foundation of your hope ; ascertain the reality of 
your resemblance to the mind and character of the 
Lord Jesus Christ ; and particularly see how far 
your profession and conduct agree — how they an- 
swer the one to the other. Since the original 
publication of Christianity many are the objections 
against it that have been advanced by its enemies. 
We have reason and evidence enough to satisfy 
the inquiries of the philosophical, the argumenta- 
tive, the learned, and the critical ; and not one of 
those objections which are founded on argument, 
and learning, and philosophy, and criticism, but 
has been most satisfactorily and triumphantly 
answered over and over again. But that which 
has reference to the subject that has now occupied 
our attention — the objection which says that Chris- 
tians are so worldly, so selfish, so avaricious, that 
there is no difference between them and those that 
make no profession, and that the former are just as 
earthly, and as secular, and as feverish as the 
latter; this objection, I sa} r , is not so easily an- 
swered and set aside. Here it is, my brethren, 
that the Saviour is wounded in the house of his 
friends. It is difficult to find an answer to this 
allegation, and I summon you and myself practi- 
cally to refute it. If we have been thus culpable 
and injurious, let us be so no more; let us be per- 
suaded, and entreated, and exhorted henceforth to 
walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of 



404 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



their minds; but live soberly, righteously, yea, 
godly in this present world ; let us maintain such a 
walk and conversation as not only shall bring no 
reproach upon the worthy name whereby we are 
called, but such as shall prove beneficial and orna- 
mental, influential and useful; let us remember 
that the cause of Christ is committed to us in the 
world ; its fate and fortunes are in some sort in 
our hands, and it is for us to uphold and extend it. 
And O let us see to it that its brightness is not 
sullied, nor its progress impeded, through our per- 
sonal inconsistency and impurity ; and to this end 
let us be constantly " looking for that blessed hope 
and the glorious appearing of the great God and 
our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ." 



XIV. 

RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 

"He said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the proph- 
ets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the 
dead." — Luke xvi, 31. 

There is nothing in which we are more interested 
than in the character and offices of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. He was at once our Priest, our King, and 
our Prophet : and, therefore, he is our Saviour. It 
is in his prophetical character, however, that lie 
appears before us in the chapter from which I have 
taken my text. He might well say, "I am the 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 405 



light of the world: he that followeth me shall not 
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." 
The instructions which he conveyed, as our proph- 
et, he communicated in various forms, but gener- 
ally in the form of a parable. In adopting this 
method of imparting instruction and impression, 
he accommodated himself to the taste of the age 
and country in which he lived. It seemed natural, 
in the eastern part of the world, to think, and 
speak, and w r rite in figures ; there was something 
in the climate that was particularly favorable to 
that mode ; and what the climate rendered natural, 
the form of government that generally prevailed 
in the eastern part of the world rendered highly 
expedient ; for the form of government that gen- 
erally prevailed in the East was arbitrary and 
highly despotic ; and, therefore, Truth was obliged 
to shroud herself — she durst not appear naked in 
the streets, she durst not disclose herself un vailed. 

The parabolical method of instruction has a 
peculiar fascination — it has a charm for every ear. 
It seizes hold of things natural, and presses them 
into the service of religious, and moral, and spirit- 
ual improvement — it takes the objects with which 
we are daily conversant, and makes them the vehi- 
cles through which lessons of the most valuable 
kind are communicated to our minds. But, of all 
the parables which our Saviour ever delivered, the 
most impressive, if not the most instructive, is 
that, the concluding sentence of which I have 
now taken for my text : " There was a certain 
rich man. which was clothed in purple and fine 



406 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



linen, and fared sumptuously every day. And 
there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which 
was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to 
be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich 
man's table : moreover the dogs came and licked 
his sores. And it came pass, that the beggar 
died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's 
bosom : the rich man also died, and was buried ; 
and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in tor- 
ments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in 
his bosom. And he cried, and said, Father Abra- 
ham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that 
he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool 
my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 
But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in 
thy life-time receivedst thy good things, and like- 
Avise Lazarus evil things : but now he is comforted, 
and thou art tormented. And beside all this, be- 
tween us and you there is a great gulf fixed ; so 
that they which would pass from hence to you 
cannot ; neither can they pass to us, that would 
come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee, 
therefore, father, that thou wouldst send him to 
my father's house, for I have five brethren ; that he 
may testify unto them, lest they also come into 
this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, 
They have Moses and the prophets ; let them hear 
them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but 
if one went unto them from the dead, thev will 
repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not 
Moses and the prophets, neither will they be per- 
suaded, though one rose from the dead." 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 407 



In that one parable we have more light thrown 
on these important and universally-interesting sub- 
jects — the government of the world, a retributive 
providence, the future, and final, and endless des- 
tinies of the human race — than is found in all the 
uninspired writings of men that ever attempted 
to meddle with subjects so universally command- 
ing in their interests, but at the same time so 
peculiar to revelation. " If they hear not Moses 
and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded 
though one rose from the dead." 

The first general statement suggested by the 
parable is, touching the unequal distribution of 

THE GIFTS OF PROVIDENCE AMONG MANKIND. There 

was a rich man, and there was a poor man. Some 
men seem born to wealth — they wallow in riches, 
they roll in elegant carriages, and are surrounded 
by a gay, and a dazzling, and a magnificent equi- 
page. There is so much splendor around their 
persons, that, wherever they move, for the mo- 
ment, the monotony of affairs is broken up, and 
the stare of the multitude is fastened upon them. 
How different is it with others? Born under in- 
auspicious circumstances, the sun of prosperity 
never once shines upon them at all between the 
cradle and the grave. They pursue their toilsome 
labors, and earn their bread by the sweat of their 
brow; the iron hand of indigence presses them 
down sorely ; ten thousand anxieties and pinch- 
ing cares harass them; their persons are covered 
with a threadbare garment, and are lodged in a 
lowly cottage. 



408 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



u There was a certain rich man," unusually rich, 
so rich that he "was clothed in purple" — which, 
in those days, was the vestments of kings and 
emperors — "and fine linen," the manufacture of 
which was then exceedingly rare, and the price of 
which was exceedingly costly. And as it was with 
his garments, so as to his diet — he " fared sumptu- 
ously;" his table was loaded with all the luxuries 
and delicacies brought from the four quarters of 
the globe. " He fared sumptuously every day. 
And there was a certain beggar," a man so poor 
that he had not where to lay his head, and there- 
fore he laid it at another man's gate — so destitute 
that he was dependent on the sweeping of the 
house of others, who were more favored by the 
gifts of Providence than himself. " There was a 
certain beggar, named Lazarus, which was laid at 
his gate, full" of sores." And to complete the pict- 
ure, we are told that " the dogs came and licked 
his sores." 

This difference, however, in providential allot- 
ments here, does not proceed upon the principle 
upon which we are apt, at first sight, to conclude 
that it does. We are not to infer, that, by this 
arrangement, God is punishing the wicked and 
honoring and advancing the righteous. That is 
the impression that is often taken of this matter. 
It was so with the friends of Job ; when they be 
held him oppressed with calamities, and smitten 
from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot 
with wounds and bruises, they drew the inference 
that God was thus punishing him for some great 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 409 



iniquity or other of which he had been guilty. But 
men's moral state and condition, in the sight of 
God, is not thus usually indicated by any differ- 
ence as to their condition among each other. 

I know that infidels found on the fact of the 
inequality that subsists in the affairs of men on 
earth an argument to bolster up their infidelity. 
You see, say they, that there is no presiding Genius 
in the universe — you see there is no over-ruling 
Power — no God of wisdom, and equity, and good- 
ness — you see that the good man, as you call him, 
is oppressed and unfortunate, while the wicked, as 
you term them, are distinguished by wealth and 
splendor. And thus it is that these men, in their 
Sadducean principles, make a mockery of a sover- 
eign Providence, and retribute eternity ; and they 
say, let us pluck every rose before it is blown, and 
every flower before it is withered ; " Let us eat and 
drink, for to-morrow we die." 

But it is not merely infidels that have thus felt 
on this subject : the righteous themselves have 
sometimes been tempted to miscalculate here. 
David acknowledges, that upon this very subject 
he had almost stumbled ; when he saw the wicked 
prospering, having plenty in their tabernacles, 
while he himself was plagued and was all day long 
in adversity, he was ready to throw away his faith, 
and join in aliance with the infidel; and he tells 
us that 'his feet had well-nigh slipped." But he 
went into the sanctuary of his God, and there a 
flood of light came on this dark and mysterious 
chapter of the ways of the Most High. We know 



4T0 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



that our Father, who is in heaven, makes his sun 
to rise on the evil and upon the good, and causeth 
his rain to descend on the unjust as well as upon 
the just. And when full day shall pour its stream- 
ing light on all the footsteps of the Almighty in 
the deeps, then we shall see that God is true and 
righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. 
This leads me to notice, 

Secondly ', The decisive adjustment of things 
that takes place after death. We have al- 
ready seen the inequality in life, and now let us 
notice the adjustment that takes place at death. 
"And it came to pass that the beggar died, and 
w r as carried by angels into Abraham's bosom." 
The beggar died ; there was no funeral; there is 
the circumstance of a funeral noticed in the case of 
the rich man, but there is no record here touching 
the funeral of the poor man. He was thrown into 
the nearest Golgotha, among vulgar dust ! Here 
no voice of lamentation was heard — no train of 
mourners attended, having the appearance of affec- 
tion toward him. Here was nothing but death, 
without any thing to shorten its shade or mitigate 
its frowning aspect. But that body which was 
thrown away so unceremoniously is precious in the 
eye of heaven. "Behold, I show you a mystery: 
we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed 
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last 
trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead 
shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be 
changed. For this corruptible must put on incor- 
ruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 411 



All shall come forth from their graves, whether 
they were good or whether they were bad. The 
body of Lazarus is safe in the custody of God, and 
shall be forthcoming on the morning of the resur- 
rection. 

But what becomes of his soul? That, we are 
told, "was carried by angels into Abraham's bo- 
som." "Carried by angels ! " How benevolent are 
these celestial creatures ! What an interest they 
take in the fate and fortunes of mankind ! When 
we were created at first they did not envy us the 
circumstances of our creation ; they congratulated 
us that we were made in the image and after the 
likeness of Almighty God. And when we had 
ruined ourselves, and the Saviour of mankind was 
born, they did not envy our race that distinction 
and honor, but came down in tribes, from their 
abodes above, and celebrated the nativity of the 
Redeemer of men. How they watched around the 
footsteps of the man of sorrows while he was in 
the world ! How they ministered to him and 
guarded him in the wilderness ! With w T hat affec- 
tionate readiness they rolled away the stone from 
the mouth of his sepulcher on the morning of his 
resurrection ! And what an interest they take in 
us individually ! When, on their errands of mercy 
tli rough this our far-off planet, they observe the 
tear of repentance gathering on the eyeball of a 
man unwont to such a tear, and witness the sigh 
of contrition in the bosom unwont to such a feel- 
ing; away they speed with the tidings up to the 
everlasting courts above, and start a new gust of 



412 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



sensibility among all the hosts of the heavenly 
world: for we know, on the authority of Him who 
is at once the king of angels and of men, that 
there is "joy in heaven over one sinner that re- 
penteth." 

Who are the angels ? " Are they not all minis- 
tering spirits sent forth to minister for them who 
shall be heirs of salvation ? " And perhaps the 
most affectionate, if not the most important, part 
of their ministration unto us, on earth, is at the 
juncture of our dissolution, when we are separating 
from time and earth, and all our ancient fellowships 
are breaking up, and when life is quivering on the 
lip of the man who says, " I have fought a good 
light, I have finished my course, I have kept the 
faith," — when the heart-strings are breaking, and 
the soul is disentangling itself from the flesh with 
which it has been allied, the angels are there to 
take the departed spirit, and bear it, alive, up to 
the palace of the King of angels and of men. 

Lazarus shared in their ministrations : u It came 
to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by 
the angels." Where ? " Unto Abraham's bosom." 
This lano;uao;e convevs to our mind the notion of a 
banquet. At the banquet of the Jews they were 
in a reclining posture ; they did not sit at their 
meals upright, as we do at ours, but leaned at 
them; and therefore one laid his head at the bosom 
of the other, immediately above him, at the ban- 
quet table. You recollect, that on the memorable 
night of the institution of the Lord's Supper, when 
our Saviour, at the head of the table, instituted the 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



sacrament, John, the disciple, was said to have 
leaned on his bosom — that is, he was next to him 
at the table ; and according to the posture of the 
Jews in those days, rested on the bosom of Jesus 
Christ. So Lazarus, that was an outcast upon 
earth, and lay at the rich man's gate, who had 
nothing but the sweepings of the house for his 
support, depending altogether on the crumbs of 
charity — Lazarus is taken up — where ? To the 
heaven of heavens, to the banquet of the skies; 
he is placed in the bosom of Abraham, and has 
fellowship with patriarchs and prophets — with the 
wisest, and the best, and the greatest, and the 
holiest creatures, gathered from the universe of 
God. There he is, feeding on heavenly manna, and 
living on angels' food, and drinking the river of 
life that floweth at the foot of the throne of God, 
and partaking of the immortal fruit that groweth 
evermore upon the tree of life, in the midst of the 
paradise of God, 

Such is the adjustment of the case as it regards 
Lazarus. It is time, however, that we should come 
to the rich man; for he also died. We are not 
told how r . It might have been in midnight riot 
and revelry, with stormy appetites, and the reins 
thrown loose upon his passions. But he had a 
funeral. I w T ould just stop, for one single moment, 
to remark here, how exceedingly affecting must be 
the death of an exceedingly rich unconverted man. 
I say nothing of the gloom of death — of its vio- 
lence to nature — of its disruption of all our ties; 
but I speak merely of this — that in one moment 



4 H The Wesley an Demosthenes, 



the rich ungodly man loses all, and he travels on, 
naked and trembling, into the abyss of eternity, an 
accountable spirit, and is brought immediately be- 
fore the awful tribunal of God ! 

" The rich man died, and was buried." His 
body was washed with pure water ; and as it had 
been clothed in purple in life, so now it w T as wrapped 
in fine linen when it is dead ; it is embalmed with 
Arabian spices and odoriferous drugs. A train of 
mourners fill the house — a tone of sadness and 
grief is thrown over the dwelling — tears are shed 
upon the coffin — every honorable virtue and amia- 
ble excellence is attributed to him — the procession 
moves off to the cemetery of his fathers. Some 
relative or other pronounces aloud his titles, and 
utters his eulogium ; and as the coffin is lowering 
into the receptacle, " Peace be to his ashes, and let 
them spring on the grass, and grow as the lily by 
the water-courses!" is responded from the lips of 
the mourners : for the Jews, remember, believed in 
the resurrection of the dead ; at least, as far as re- 
garded the seed of Abraham — " Peace be to his 
ashes ! " I wish there was nothing but peace ; " but 
there is no peace, saith my Gocl, to the wicked," 
living or dead. How often is it said over the 
housed dust of an ungodly man, who has lived and 
died in impenitence, ungodliness, and unbelief, 
" We commit it to the ground, in sure and certain 
hope of the resurrection to eternal life ; " when 
surely it would be better — I don't mean for the 
dead, for with them the case cannot be changed, 
but I mean for the living — if, as the grave closes 



Tlie Wesley an Demosthenes. 415 



its mouth, a voice was heard issuing from the 
coffin, " The harvest is past, the summer is ended, 
and I am not saved ! the day of repentance is over 
and gone ; and I am lost, lost forever ! " — The rich 
man died and was buried. What became of his 
soul! The souls of the dead found a partial 
liberty on the verge or skirts of the atmosphere of 
this our globe, and were sometimes flitting in the 
storm, was the theology of our Pagan ancestors, 
the theology of the poems of Ossian, and of the 
day-dreams of those on whom the light of revela- 
tion has never dawned. We know what becomes 
of the soul of man immediately it leaves the body. 
In the instance of the good man, we see, from the 
case of Lazarus, that it goes to Abraham's bosom ; 
and in the instance of the bad man it goes to hell. 
u In hell he lifted up his eyes." O, what a transi- 
tion from a mansion of splendor, a saloon of beau- 
ty, the sound of music and the dance, to the groans 
of damnation and the thrills of despair! What 
must be the woe and the torments that fasten upon 
the man that has lived in disobedience, when, in 
a moment, he is plunged into the place where hope 
never comes ? Don't tell me of poverty, and bank- 
ruptcy, and ruin. This is bankruptcy, this is more 
than bankruptcy and ruin in this world, a thousand 
and a thousand times over. To go from time to 
eternity, and carry nothing there but one's sins — 
to go hence into the mighty abyss, having no 
friend within the vail, and no home in heaven, and 
no asylum in eternity, and no place but the place 
where we are told the rich man went! "He lifted 



4i6 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



up his eyes, being in torment, and seeth Abraham 
afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." This leads me 
to state, 

Thirdly ) The next general observation, namely, 
The everlasting separation that takes place 
at death between the righteous and the 
wicked. You know how it is at present — the 
tares and the wheat grow together, the sheep and 
the goats mingle together; but at death the one is 
separated from the other so completely, that in the 
congregation of the righteous is not found one 
wicked man, and in the congregation of the wicked 
is not found one righteous man. Sometimes as 
you pass along the street you see a man you think 
you don't like — there is something in his counte- 
nance which distresses you — you fancy you see the 
blasphemer, the man reprobate to every good work, 
the man steeped in all corruption ; and if one were 
to whisper in your ear that you must live a month 
with that man, and never be out of his society one 
day, you would be afflicted ; but if you were told 
you must live in his fellowship a whole year and 
never be removed from the region of his pestiferous 
breath for a single moment or day in that year, 
what an affliction would it be ! And if you were 
to spend a whole life-time, and never be separated 
from him a single instant, what a gloom would it 
spread over your mind! Hell is the place where 
there are many such — where all the inhabitants 
are such : " Without are dogs and sorcerers, and 
w r horemongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and 
whosoever loveth and maketh a lie," — whatever is 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



417 



abominable. O, tell me not of the fire and the 
worm, and the blackness and darkness of bell ; to 
my terrified conscience there is hell enough in this 
representation of it — that it is the common sewer 
of all that is abominable, and abandoned, and 
reckless as to principle, and depraved as to morals , 
the one common eddy, where every thing that is 
polluted, and wretched, and filthy, is gathered to- 
gether! There was the rich man — " In hell he 
lifted up his eyes, being in torments ! " 

" In hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, 
and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his 
bosom." With the rich man there is no change 
now; but from gulf to gulf, from blackness to 
blackness, from woe to woe, through one inter- 
minable series ; and as to Lazarus, we find him in 
the heaven of heavens, in the bosom of Abraham, 
and he knows no change there except from song 
to song, from rapture to rapture, from thrill to 
thrill, and from one burst of joy and felicity to 
another. 

The righteous and the wicked are separated at 
death ; and it is this view of death that stamps it 
with so much solemnity; it is this which makes 
death so solemn an occurrence. " O, that men 
were wise, that they understood this; that they 
would consider their latter end." "He saw Abra- 
ham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom, and he 
cried, and said, Father Abraham, have mercy upon 
me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of 
his finger in water to cool my tongue ; for I am 
tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, 
27 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



remember, that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy 
good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things : but 
now he is comforted and thou art tormented. And 
besides all this, between us and you there is a 
great gulf fixed " — no intercommunicating between 
the one and the other; the wicked are away from 
the company of the righteous, and the righteous 
are far, far away from the annoyance of the wicked 
— " besides all this, between us and you there is a 
great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass 
from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass 
to us that would come from thence. Then he 
said, I pray thee, therefore father, that thou 
wouldst send him to my father's house, for I have 
five brethren ; that he may testify unto them, lest 
they also come into this place of torment*" But 
this leads me to the 

Fourth general observation, namely : The view 

THAT IS TAKEX OF THIS LIFE BY MEN WHEN ONCE 

they get out into the future. I need not de- 
tain you with the first application of this lost man 
regarding himself. He prayed for a drop of cold 
water. What did he pray for? He does not pray 
for pardon, he does not pray for holiness, he does 
not pray for salvation, because he had never prayed 
for them in life. Death makes no essential change 
upon the qualities of the soul. Be it remembered 
that you are building up your characters as for an 
everlasting destiny and condition ; and as you 
build up your characters in time, it will be with 
you throughout an unchanging eternity; so that 
if in life and time you do not seek after pardon, 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 419 



and holiness, and salvation, you will never seek 
after them at all. This man, therefore, asks for 
relief from positive misery: u Send Lazaras, that 
he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool 
my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame." 
But that drop of water is denied. 

It is not this idea, however, that we have time 
now to dwell upon ; it is rather the request that he 
subjoined to the refusal of the first, that we would 
call your attention. " Then/' he said, " I pray thee, 
therefore, father, that thou wouldst send him to 
my father's house ; for I have five brethren ; that 
he may testify unto them, lest they also come into 
this place of torment." What ! did he pity his 
brethren? Had he any real sympathy for them? 
And is there any compassion in the bottomless pit, 
and is there mercy in the souls of the damned in 
hell? I am airaid that we must dismiss the 
thought altogether. The teaching and the revela- 
tion of God on the subject does not allow of our 
tolerating such an idea for a moment. " But then," 
you say, "does not the man ask that his breth- 
ren may be converted ? " Unquestionably he does, 
Does he not ask that some extraordinary means 
might be had recourse to in order to bring them 
to repentance ? Unquestionably he does so. But 
what is the ground on which he founds the peti- 
tion and pity for them, but pity for himself? He 
knew very well that, though he was thus tormented 
in the flames of the bottomless pit without them, 
if they came to hell he would be more sorely tor- 
mented; their arrival there would form an era in 



420 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



the history of his damnation ; and fierce and biting 
as were the flames in their absence, they would be 
more fierce and biting in their presence. 

We know that he had led them on in the ways 
of iniquity — that he had set them an example of 
vice and folly — and that, therefore, they would 
criminate and abuse him if brought into fellowship 
with him hereafter. And let us stop for a mo- 
ment, and think, that perhaps, there are at this 
instant some persons in hell that are trembling 
at the thought of our going there — some whose 
morals we have corrupted — some whose spiritual 
history and well-being we have done irreparable 
damage to, whom we have blasted as with a mil- 
dew, and who have died with their sins upon their 
heads, un repented of, unpardoned. O, my fellow- 
sinner, keep out of hell for their sake as well as for 
your own ! O how affecting it is to the regener- 
ated man to look back on the days of his unre- 
generacy, and to think how many he has damaged 
in their moral condition ! Some of us may huve 
been verily guilty in this matter, and we ought 
now, therefore, to strive to be the instruments of 
the salvation of those around us, since we have 
been instrumental, in some sort, in the damnation 
of some. " I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou 
wouldst send him to my father's house ; for 1 have 
live brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest 
they also come into this place of torment/' 

The last thing that we shall subjoin regards the 

SUFFICIENCY OF THE REVELATION THAT GoD HAS 
GIVEN TO CONFIRM ALL THESE THINGS. U Abraham 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 421 



saith unto him, They have Moses and the proph- 
ets ; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, Fa- 
ther Abraham " — " I had Moses and the prophets : 
those means were within my reach, but I per- 
ished. I turned a deaf ear to the voice of Moses 
and the prophets, and they may do so: therefore, 
I pray thee, let Lazarus go." Then, said Abraham, 
u If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither 
will they be persuaded though one rose from the 
dead." If they hear not Moses and the prophets, 
their case is hopeless ; if the means with which 
they are favored shall be disregarded by them, no 
other means will be made effectual ; u If they hear 
not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be 
persuaded " to repent — for that is the scope of the 
passage — " though one rose from the dead." This 
is a very common opinion of many men in our day. 
There are persons who are proof against all the 
ordinary means of religion ; and they lay the flat- 
tering unction to their souls, that if some one 
were to come back to them from the dead, with 
whom they were intimate during their life, they 
would then be impressed and converted. 

Suppose, then, such a case: suppose some one 
from the invisible world, with whom we have been 
exceedingly intimate before his departure out of 
this world, w^ere to appear in the center of this 
chapel, eye to eye, and front to front, what would 
be the effect? You would be frightened, but not 
converted — panic-struck, but not regenerated — - 
alarmed and terrified, but not renewed and saved ; 
and, if there was any effect produced by such an. 



422 



Ike Wesley an Demosthenes. 



appearance, it would be found in your nerves and 
muscles possibly, but it would not be found in your 
moral condition. You would be morally the same 
worldly, sin-loving, Christ disregarding individual 
that you now are ; for, if ye hear not Moses and 
the prophets, Christ and the apostles, neither would 
ye be persuaded to repent though one rose from 
the dead. And if there is an individual listening 
to me this evening, having long sat under the 
sound of the Gospel in this place or elsewhere, who 
has been proof against all its facts, and arguments, 
and teachings, and warnings, and appeals, it is a 
most awful and monitory conclusion that we must 
come to — you are far gone in hopeless apostasy. 
If ever you are saved at ail, it will be by the things 
that are in the Bible — the truths contained in 
Moses and the prophets, Christ and the apostles; 
and if you have heard the things — if they have met 
your attention again and again — if they have been 
pressed on your individual reception again and 
again, and you remain the same guilty and polluted 
person, we call upon you to take the alarm — if your 
souls are not softened in these means they will be 
hardened into a closer texture, and into still more 
obdurate resistance — if ye hear not Moses and the 
prophets, neither will ye be persuaded though one 
rose from the dead. 

As to the arguments we have for the divinity of 
the Bible, as the revelation from God, we shall not 
this evening dwell upon them. These arguments 
are positive and cumulating — growing, amassing to- 
gether every hour : and I need not eumerate them 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 423 



to you now. We take it for granted that you 
allow the Bible to be the Gospel from heaven ; and 
then we call upon you to listen to its message and 
accept it. 

Let me now draw a few general reflections from 
the whole. First, then, we see that the ground of 
his infidelity is completely swept aw^ay from the 
feet of the skeptic, touching the present inequality 
of the distribution of the gifts of Providence among 
men. See where Lazarus is now, and ask your- 
selves, was there any thing unrighteous in the 
behavior of God toward him? Looking at the 
end from the beginning, every part of God's ad- 
ministration toward us will appear just, and right, 
and plain. 

Then you will remark, that the poor man did 
not, when he died, go to Abraham's bosom be- 
cause he was poor. There are some persons that 
flatter themselves that, because they are poor in 
this world, they will get to heaven at last ; but 
poverty and wickedness are often found together. 
And Lazarus was admitted to Abraham's bosom 
because, although poor, he was rich toward God — 
rich in faith and grace; for without holiness no 
man shall see God, whether rich or poor, 

Neither did the rich man go to hell been use he 
was rich — he says he did not ; he says that he had 
a day of grace and opportunity but slighted it. 
Riches may be a great blessing — the man himself 
may be infinitely the better for them, as well as 
many others deriving influence from him. 

Lastly, we see no necessity for us to indulge the 



424 The Wesleyan Demostlienes. 



conclusion so often entertained, touching the rich 
man ; namely, that he was exceedingly avaricious, 
and altogether uncharitable and cruel to Laza- 
rus. Lazarus lay at his gate — why did he lay 
there? Surely he must have received the char- 
ity of the house. It seems that the gate of the 
rich man's house was the home of Lazarus, and he 
would not surely have continued there if he had 
always been denied the bread of charity. Besides, 
why should the rich man ask, when he saw Abra- 
ham afar off, that lie should send Lazarus that he 
might testify unto his brethren, if it does not in- 
volve the supposition that Lazarus had had his 
crumbs of bread? It seems to me to lie on the 
surface of the parable, that the rich man had been 
charitable to Lazarus in his life- time. It is not 
necessary to suppose that he was a man of cruelty 
and avarice. We do not need a parable of this 
length and construction to teach us that a rich 
man, a miserly, avaricious, cruel, selfish man, living 
and dying such, must, on his leaving this world, 
go to hell. That w r ould take off the edge of the 
parable. Its clear design and tendency is to teach 
us, that if we despise the means of grace with 
which God has favored us, if we neglect his great 
salvation, we cannot escape; we must perish! 
May God bless his word! 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 425 



xv. 

THE TIME OF LIGHT. 

" And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall 
not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall be 
known to the Lord, not day, nor night : but it shall come to 
pass, that at evening time it shall be light." — Zechariah xiv, 
6, 7. 

We may address ourselves and our faculties to the 
understanding of the predictions of the Bible, but 
we must recollect that we are imperfect and falli- 
ble, and that much is hidden from us concerning 
the future; and though fancy may pursue her in- 
quiries into the region of speculation, and imagina- 
tion may light up a fire which is in reality dark, we 
are to be sober-minded in our interpretation of 
Scripture. Yet no part of Scripture is uninterest- 
ing or wholly unintelligible. " Ail Scripture is given 
by inspiration of God," and is always instructive. 
We are as much interested in these things as those 
who shall stand at u the end," — the days when all 
obscurities will be taken off from the most prophet- 
ical portion of inspiration. 

I have read to you a passage which I do not pre- 
tend that I fully understand : there may be mean- 
ing in it which may not be obvious to our percep- 
tions ; but I think I may take it as an explanation 
of the three following tilings : First, as descriptive 
of the present mingled state of affairs, both in the 
Church and in the world : " It shall come to pass 



426 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor 
dark — not day, nor night " — but a sort of twilight. 
Secondly, the text is descriptive of the superintend- 
ing care of divine Providence during this checkered 
and mysterious state of things: though the light 
be neither day nor night, but a sort of twilight, 
it is "one day known to the Lord." Thirdly, 
the language before us is strikingly descriptive of 
the wonders and glories of that auspicious day in 
which this mingled state of affairs shall terminate. 
But, says the Prophet, " it shall come to pass in 
that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor 
dark: but it shall be one day which shall be known 
to the Lord, not day, nor night : but it shall come 
to pass, that at evening time it shall be light." Mav 
the Lord of life and light now enlighten us ! 

First, the language of the text is descriptive of 

THE PRESENT MINGLED STATE OF AFFAIRS both ill 

the Church and in the world : " it shall come to 
pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, 
nor dark — not day, nor night" — but a sort of twi- 
light. Darkness is the effect of our low situation ; 
just as in a winter's day, sometimes, when the 
clouds hang so low, and the fogs are so thick, and 
the mists are so dense, we cannot see the light of 
the sun, its rays are turned from us, and refracted 
from us more than usual; but if we could get 
above the clouds, and soar aloft— if we could rise 
above these thick masses of clouds, these marshy 
evaporations, these foggy mists, all would be bright 
and clear. There is nothing really dark with God 
— nothing imperfect in the Gospel, The Gospel is 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 427 



to our perception not so distinct as to be perfectly 
clear; but, thank God ! it is not so dark as to be 
useless and unintelligible. There are clouds and 
obscurities resting on the subject arising from our 
weakness and imperfection of understanding. 

I illustrate this, first, By the partial distribution 
of the Gospel among the nations of the earth. On 
that account the light is neither clear nor dark, 
neither day nor night, but a sort of twilight. 
Blessed indeed are your eyes, for they see ; and your 
ears, for they hear. England has been very well 
held to be, without a figure of speech, the land of 
light, the land of vision, whence the rays of the lu- 
minous Gospel diverge to distant lands. But though 
we are a people that know the joyful sound, and 
therefore are blessed, God has not so dealt with the 
heathen nations ; and as for his statutes, they have 
not known them. Pass over your own threshold, 
and w T hat do you meet with? Pass the boundary 
of your own land, and what accosts you? There 
are not only some few countries, but there are 
many lands quite in the dark ; there are large por- 
tions of whole continents in the dark— the Burmese, 
the Persian, the Syrian, the Chinese empires — and 
many others, inclosing the largest amount of the 
human population, and the fairest portion of the 
terraqueous globe— all in the dark. When we 
come to any thing like a strict summary of the case, 
there are only two or three hundred millions of the 
inhabitants of the earth who are acquainted with 
Christianity at all, in any form. When we come 
to analyze this portion of two or three hundred 



428 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



thousand, and dissect out of that great mass of 
human beings which clothe the globe, how many 
of them are Christians by compulsion ? How 
many are Christians by education? How many 
are Christians merely in form and for fashion ? In 
the eye of the true God — that God who searcheth 
the heart and trieth the reins — how few, compara- 
tively, is the number of real genuine Christians ! 
We call the year in which we live the year of our 
Lord eighteen hundred and thirty-seven : is it not 
affecting to think that still the largest portion of 
the earth is still without the Gospel of our Lord! 
The damp, and dark, and murky fogs of error and 
delusion are placing themselves in the way of the 
bright flood of light; the darkness obstructs the 
light; for a time the collision is fierce, but the 
light is destined to prevail, and the darkness must 
Hee away. May God hasten the time ! At pres- 
ent, however, it is neither clear nor dark, neither 
day nor night ; it is at the very best but twilight 
with this planet on which we dwell. 

Secondly, The language before is also descriptive 
of the imperfect attainments of real Christians. 
How many of you have been for twenty or thirty 
years at the feet of the Prophet of the New Testa- 
ment Church, while he has been instructing you 
out of his law? And yet when you analyze your 
Christian experience, and explore your moral char- 
acter, and go down into the depths of your mo- 
tives and dispositions, you find that in the matter 
of individual, personal, Christian experience, it is 
but twilight — it is not quite light. You have 



The Wesley a? i Demosthenes. 



429 



faith, but how few have any thing like "the full 
assurance of faith ! " You have hope, but how 
lew of you have hope ever-blooming ! You have 
obedience, but your obedience is but partial, irregu- 
lar, imperfect. You have joy, but it is " meddled 
with." You are like the children of Israel, who 
sometimes seemed to make such progress in their 
journey that they were on the very borders of the 
promised land, and then they were sent back again 
"by the way of the lied Sea." How many Chris- 
tians have to acknowledge, in the language of the 
patriarch of Uz, " I am of yesterday, and know 
nothing." 

Thirdly, The text finds its illustration in the in- 
scrutable dispensations of the providence of God. 
In that respect the light at present is "neither 
clear nor dark, neither day nor night." The provi- 
dence of God — how vast, how profound a subject! 
Look at futurity, sealed with seven seals : we are 
forbidden even conjecture concerning it. God has 
his way in yonder whirlwind, his footsteps are past 
finding out. How many are the afflictions even of 
the righteous! They find that joy and sorrow, 
plenty and scarcity, sickness and health, spring, 
and summer, and winter, form the sad variety of 
their lot. How many are the providences of God 
toward his people which now they can neither 
understand nor explain! How was it with Jacob 
when Joseph's coat was brought to him, torn and 
bloody, and was lifted up before him ? He shook 
his hoary head — the tear gathered in his eye and 
rolled down his face, and he exclaimed, " All these 



430 The Wesleyan Demost/ienes. 



things are against me!" He understood not; the 
dispensation was not clear ; it was not quite day- 
light ; there was a mist on the affair, there was a 
fog on the occurrence; the day was neither clear 
nor dark. So it is with many of the dispensations 
of Providence now : some of the links of the great 
chain have been brightened, others are incrusted, 
shrouded ; but one after another the links all be- 
come bright; one purpose of God unfolds and un- 
vails itself after another; but often there is much 
obscurity and unintelligibleness; it is neither clear 
nor dark, neither day nor night. 

This first part of the subject will be relieved by 
the second : and that is, the superintending care 
of Divine Providence during this checkered and 
mysterious state of things. " But," says the proph- 
et, " it shall be one day known to the Lord." 

This intimates to us, first, GocVs superintendence 
of all things. He makes the light, and he makes 
the darkness; he controls the light, and he controls 
the darkness; and what is still more, both the 
darkness and the light are the instruments of ac- 
complishing his purposes and forwarding his inter- 
ests. What the world call* chance we call provi- 
dence ; what the world calls accident we call de- 
sign. Providence shrouds itself indeed behind the 
screen-work of secondary agencies ; our eyes rest 
on the visible agency, but the invisible providence 
that is behind the screen- work we often disregard. 
God has an eye that sees all things ; he has an arm 
that reaches from heaven to earth : he rules among 
the hosts of heaven, and overrules the councils 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 431 



and conspiracies of hell. That man is culpable 
who says. "My God reigneth," if he suffers his dis- 
tresses to be deep and lasting. "The Lord liv- 
eth ; and blessed be my rock, and let the God of 
my salvation be exalted." 

Secondly, This language intimates to ns GocVs 
foreknowledge of all things. The prophet Isaiah 
has expressed this in most beautiful language in 
his prophecies, where Jehovah says, by him, "My 
thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your 
ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heav- 
ens are higher than the earth, so are my ways 
higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your 
thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the 
snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but 
watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and 
bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread 
to the eater : so shall my word be that goeth forth 
out of my mouth : it shall not return unto me void, 
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it 
shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For 
ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with 
peace : the mountains and the hills shall break 
forth before you into singing, and all the trees of 
the fields shall clap their hands. Instead of the 
thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the 
brier shall come up the myrtle-tree: and it shall be 
to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign th.it 
shall not be cut off." Our sight is limited by cir- 
cumstances ; God's eye pierceth the universe. Our 
eye is upon the evil ; his is upon the good that is 
to come out of it. We know not what a day may 



432 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



brino; forth ; he sees the end from the beginning ; 
he comprehends past, present, and future in one 
eternal now. The immutability of God is the 
ground of our confidence: God is of one mind; 
none can turn him at all. Dr. Watts was philo- 
sophical as well as devotional ; he was too good a 
divine, too profound a divine, to say, " God's eter- 
nal thoughts ; " he says, " his eternal thought — 

"His eternal thought moves all." 

He knows every thing — he sees the end from the 
beginning. 

Thirdly, The language intimates the harmony of 
Divine Providence : " It shall be one day known 
to the Lord." A day, you know, is made up of 
hours: each hour is crowded with minutes; each 
minute is saturated with seconds. Every day is 
pregnant with great events to individuals, to fami- 
lies, and to nations; every hour is fraught with 
occurrences, and every minute embraces important 
circumstances. But all these seconds included in 
a minute, and all these minutes crowded into an 
hour, and all these hours gathered together, form 
but one day. How many days — reckoning after 
the manner of men — how many years have been 
employed in the fulfillment of some one promise 
of God, in the ripening of some one event, in 
the maturing of some one dispensation? Thus 
there were some hundreds of years before he ful- 
filled his promise to Abraham that his seed should 
inherit the land of Canaan. Seventy years passed 
over before the return of the Jews from their 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 433 



captivity in Babylon. Four thousand years were 
employed in the maturing of things for the birth 
of our Saviour. But four hundred years, and 
seventy years, and four thousand years, are to the 
eye of the omniscient God but one day. " One 
day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a 
thousand years as one day." 

It shall be u known to the Lord." Perhaps you 
may be ready to say, " Why do you discourse 
about the harmony of Providence ; did you not 
intimate that there was conflict in the world and 
in the heart of every individual Christian ? Where 
is the harmony of which you speak? All we see 
seems confusion." These objections are not the 
result of sagacily, but folly; they are not the prod- 
uct of intelligence, but short-sightedness; they 
are the effect, not of a clear and long-sighted wis- 
dom, but of narrow and confined contemplation. 
We may look on a piece of machinery, and be 
pleased with its movements : the mere looker-on 
may not see the union of its complicated parts, 
may not understand the intention of the wdiole, 
may not discover the principle that originates the 
movements of the wheels ; but what is confusion 
to him is harmony to the engineer; what is dis- 
cord to him is symmetry to the proprietor; what 
is chaos to him is perfection and beauty to the 
constructor. 

There is an image which is given to us in the 
Bible, which represents Providence as a wheel, a 
great wheel, in which are manifold smaller wheels, 
and all the wheels are full of eyes, and all the eyes 
28 



434 The Wesleyan Demosthenes, 



are instinct with intelligence ; but it is only a small 
segment of the wheel that we see. We may see 
some of the smaller wheels which are inserted in 
the great wheel ; but the revolutions of the great 
wheel are so high, and are determined by such 
profound intelligence, that we are often obliged to 
sit down and acknowledge our ignorance, and to 
fall at the feet of the great Teacher of wisdom, as 
David did, and to say, " What I know not teach 
thou me." 

The language before us intimates the beneficial 
tendency of the Providence of God. The day is 
often employed in Scripture as the emblem of good 
—darkness is the emblem of evil. The night is the 
emblem of that which is calamitous — the day is the 
emblem of that which is benign. " It shall be one 
day known unto the Lord." It was a sense of the 
destitution of his condition that was of so much 
use to the prodigal; but never till then did he say, 
" I will arise and go to my father." Manasseh was 
more indebted to his captivity for his repentance 
than to his crown or a scepter. We are afflicted, 
not for God's pleasure, but for our profit. " that we 
might be partakers of his holiness." There are 
thousands on earth at this moment, and millions in 
heaven at this moment, who are saying, who are 
ready to say, who will say as soon as they have an 
opportunity of saying, " It is good for me that I 
have been afflicted." The blood of the martyrs 
was the seed of the Church. It is u one day known 
to the Lord." 

The language before us is a ground of unlimited 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 435 



resignation and contentment. Can our affairs be 
lodger] in better hands ? Can I secure a wiser ad- 
ministration of them ? May I not repose with con- 
fidence on the superintending care of Almighty 
God? Are not those perfections that are compe- 
tent to steer the vessel of the universe quite ade- 
quate to the management of my little bark, how- 
ever tempestuous the wind, however troubled may 
be the water? 

This view of Providence supplies a motive for 
unlimited confidence. I know I am a mortal ; I 
know I am a dying creature, that I must meet the 
almighty messenger, and may have to meet him 
soon. Then what shall I do when I meet him ? 
What shall 1 do in the last solemn struggle when 
thus the messenger comes to me ? Whither shall 
I betake myself? " The Lord liveth ; the Lord 
reigneth ; the Lord is my shepherd: yea, though I 
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I 
will fear no evil, for thou art with me." When 
my heart-strings are breaking — when my eyes are 
looking for the last time on my family — when I 
feel I am separating from earth and time, I will fall 
back on the declarations of Scripture ; I will com- 
mit myself to that Providence whose eyes sleep 
not, whose eyelids slumber not. It is " one day 
known to the Lord." 

Thirdly, I go on in the last view of the subject, 
to consider the view which is given us of the 

WONDERS AND GLORIES OF THAT AUSPICIOUS DAY IN 
"WHICH THE SINGULAR STATE OF AFFAIRS SHALL 

tebminatE; Twilight shall not always last; twi- 



43^ 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



light is not an abiding condition ; twilight is a 
transition state ; the transition shall be past, and 
"it shall come to pass that at evening time,' 5 when 
light is usually withdrawn — "at evening time," 
contrary to all the laws of nature — " at evening 
time it shall be light." "At evening time," when, 
after a long, cloudy, tempestuous, stormy day, 
nothing is expected but a gloomy and howling 
night — " it shall come to pass that at evening time 
it shall be light." This promise contains, in the 
first place, a reserve of consolation for the feeble 
Christian against the hour of dissolution. Life is 
compared to a day of which infancy is the dawn, 
youth is the morning, manhood is the meridian, 
and old age is the evening. Now says the text, 
" It shall come to pass that at evening time it shall 
be light." All men have not a dawn, a forenoon, 
a meridian, an afternoon, and an evening ; but all 
have an evening ; and to the Christian u it shall 
come to pass that at evening time it shall be light." 
See the Christian surrounded by doubts and fears 
as to the close of life, harassed and perplexed with 
alarm in his mind as to what shall become of him. 
How well John Bunyan has hit it off in the "Pil- 
grim's Progress," in the character of Fearing — the 
man who had no fear except one, and that was 
that he should come short at last. And yet how 
is it with John Banyan's Fearing — the man who 
had such a tender conscience, but was ever and 
anon haunted with the fear that he should be fear- 
ful in his last moment ? O how Fearing got over 
the river Jordan : How he swam across^ and met 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 437 



the shining ones at the other side ! " At evening 
time it was light." See a feeble Christian die : a 
mortal paleness is on his cheek, but a calm com- 
posure is there too : death is there, but Christ is 
there too ; death has come in at the window, the 
destroyer is there ; but the Conqueror is there as 
well as the destroyer; death is there as the serv- 
ant — Christ as the Master. The children of the 
dying man surround his couch ; he fancies he sees 
them in a thousand interesting situations in which 
they will need his counsel, his influence, his exam- 
ple, his assistance, and for a moment he feels 
keenly : but he hears a voice coming sweeter than 
the music of the spheres — "Leave thy fatherless 
children, I will preserve them alive ; and let thy 
widows trust in me;" and he is relieved from a 
heavy load. For a moment he is alarmed at the 
recollection that he is about to stand a disembodied 
spirit before the tribunal of his Maker ; but he re- 
members that he is not to stand there in his own 
name, but that he is to stand there justified through 
the righteousness of Christ — that he is to stand 
there in relationship to the Judge on the throne — ■ 
that that Saviour- Judge is his elder brother ; and 
his fears are relieved, his anxieties are removed : 
he has the feeling which is expressed in the beau- 
tiful language of the psalmist, which we have al- 
ready quoted— ;< Yea, though I walk through the 
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: 
for thou art with me ; thy rod and thy staff they 
comfort me," — thy rod is with me to beat off the 
enemy, thy staff is with me that I may recline 



438 The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



upon it, that I may repose upon it : and so he gets 
safe through the valley. For, somehow or other, 
dark as the valley is, gloomy as is the defile, there 
seems a sort of opening at the end of the valley, 
and a flood of light comes rippling o'er the dark- 
ness. It is just this: Christ went through the 
valley before him ; Christ broke an opening through 
at the other end ; and he has left a fissure in the 
rock, a chasm in the valley, and the light of heav- 
en has been flowing in ever since. To the Chris- 
tian " at evening tide it shall be light." 

Secondly, This part of the language of the text 
contains in it a reserve of consolation for the feeble 
Christian in seasons of perplexity and difficulty. 
We employ the term darkness to intimate great 
mental disquietude : we employ the term light to 
figure out seasons of relief from some terrible ca- 
tastrophe. Christians are allowed sometimes to 
be involved in difficult circumstances ; sometimes 
they are in the situation of the children of Israel 
when the army of Pharoah was pursuing behind 
them, and the Red Sea was rolling before them, 
and the inaccessible summits of Baal-zephon were 
on the right hand and on the left : there they were, 
the sea before them — Pharaoh and his army be- 
hind them, Baal-zephon's cliffs on the right and 
the left: and what were they to do? " At even- 
ing time it was light." When it seemed as though 
they must either feed the sword of Pharaoh, or 
fill up the chasms of the Red Sea, then it was that 
a way was made for the ransomed of the Lord ; 
and the laws of gravitation were suspended, and 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 



439 



the water divided hither and thither ; the sides of 
the water formed a solid wall, and the children 
of Israel passed over dry shod. 41 At evening time 
it, was light." Talk to Christians forty, fifty, or 
sixty years of age ; turn over a few leaves of your 
own history, and see if you cannot put your finger 
on some momentous period of your own history, 
when, in this sense, at evening time it has been 
light. See Hagar in the wnlderness, turned aw^ay 
from the house of Abraham : there she is with her 
infant son ; she lays him down ; there was no 
water, and the child was dying with thirst. Una- 
ble to endure the sight of the convulsions of the 
dying child, the mother turned her face away ; and 
the moment she did so, in that awful moment, " at 
evening time it was light:" the voice came and 
said, "Hagar, Hagar, the child is not to die, but 
to live : " and she looked, and there was a well of 
water: and she and her son lived. 

Thus — not to travel out of the limits of that 
family — look at Abraham and Isaac. See Abra- 
ham take his only son by Sarah, rising from the 
side of Sarah in the morning, taking the young 
men, and his son, with the fire, and the knife, and 
the wood : they ascend the distant ridge of hills, 
and after three days' suspense Abraham arrived at 
the mountain ; he there built an altar, he laid the 
wood in order, and then he took the knife; he 
lifted up his hand, and at that instant a voice 
pierced the air, an invisible arm arrested the hand 
a the patriarch, and the voice cried, saying, " Abra- 
ham, Abraham, lay not thine hand upon the lad." 



44-0 The Wesley an Demosthmes. 



O, that is a bold preacher, a very bold preacher, 
who would try to describe the agony ot Abraham 
w^hen he lifted up his hand to slay Isaac; but that 
is a bolder preacher far that would try to describe 
the rapture of Abraham when he took down his 
hand. " Lay not thine hand on the lad." * At 
evening time it was light." 

Thirdly, and lastly, this promise seems to con- 
tain in it an assurance of the final glory, the mil- 
lennial reign of the Son of God. "It shall be one 
day known to the Lord " — "not clear or dark, not 
day or night : but it shall come to pass that at 
evening time it shall be light." Now the day 
here alluded to has been supposed to refer to the 
great day of the Gospel, the entire flux of time 
over wiiich the Gospel extends, having a morning, 
afternoon, and evening time. Now the first part 
of this day began w T ith the ministry of the apos- 
tles, and came down to the end of the third cen- 
tury. The second period began with the fourth 
century, and came down to the overthrow of anti- 
christ. The third part of the period embraces the 
general diffusion of the Gospel, the universal tri- 
umphs of the cross ; the latter-day glory, the res- 
urrection of the dead, and the final judgment. 
"But," says the prophet, "it shall come to pass 
that at evening time " — in the latter part of the 
period signified by this day — "at evening time it 
shall be light." 

My friends, we live in very remarkable times 9 
I shall not endeavor to show you the peculiar feat- 
ure by which their events are marked ; but I may 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 441 



say, that there is not an old man in the congrega- 
tion, the most venerable in years present, who can 
put his finger on any portion of the times in which 
he has lived, or his father before him, and say they 
were as remarkable as the times in which we live. 
The times in which we live are luminous, and ful- 
fill the promise of the final brightening intimated 
in the text. Some people have compared these 
times with the times of the apostles. That is not 
a fair comparison : the apostles wrought miracles ; 
they healed the sick, and raised the dead, and 
thus carried conviction by their miracles. Mira- 
cles have now ceased : some people think they 
have come back again. I shall not take on myself 
to say whether they will come back again or not, 
but I say they have not yet, and for any thing I 
know they never will return. The triumphs of 
the Gospel are effected now without miracles : it 
is the pure Gospel, the blowing of the trumpet of 
the Gospel ; it is the steeping of the human intel- 
lect in the ether of the light of the Gospel; it is 
the pow T er of moral suasion which is effecting all 
the triumphs of the Gospel in our day. 

Some have compared these times with the times 
of the reformers. God forbid that I should under- 
value the labor of the reformers ; they did nobly, 
magnanimously 5 but we cannot deny that there 
was a good deal of bigotry mixed with their do- 
ings. Some have compared these times with the 
times of Whitefielcl and Wesley. Those were re- 
markable times: the ministry of those men ope- 
rated like a seven-fold peal of thunder in England, 



442 



The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



Scotland, and America — like a seven-fold peal of 
thunder, that thrills, and echoes, and reverberates 
— the reverberations of which have not ceased yet, 
and I believe never will cease till the thunder of 
the archangel's trumpet is sounded. But there 
was then no Bible Society, no Missionary Society, 
no Sunday-School Society; things were not ripe 
enough for these grand efforts to attack the dark- 
ness, and set up agencies by which light may be 
diffused all round the globe. We live in a day 
when it is attempted to diffuse the light of the 
Gospel among our neighbors and fellow-country- 
men, and all over the earth. 

- fi It shall come to pass that at evening time it 
shall be light." The millennial light has not yet 
shined clear; it is not light; but there are the faint 
streaks that announce the morning — the flittering 
gray streaks that purple the horizon. It is like the 
dawn in the eastern part of the world, which the 
Easterns call the false dawn. There are two dawns 
in the east — we have only one; there is the false 
dawn and the true dawn; but the false dawn goes 
before the true dawn — the true dawn follows after. 
Some have supposed that thirty years ago we were 
arriving at the millennial dawn. I pronounce not 
whether it has begun or not, but we are on the eve 
of great moral revolutions, in the issue of which it 
will be found that light is every-where, and dark- 
ness nowhere — truth every-where, and falsehood 
nowhere — love every-where, hatred nowhere — kind- 
ness every-where, cruelty nowhere. I do not stop 
to say whether or not, in order to effect this, J esus 



The Wesley an Demosthenes. 443 



Christ is to come down in person, and reign in per- 
son on the earth. Some imagine that he is; I do 
not think it is necessary to secure the fulfillment 
of the text. The heavens retain him, and will re- 
tain him till the times of the restitution of all 
things. I think when the Bible shall be translated 
into every language, and every man, woman, and 
child shall have a copy of it — when the Gospel 
shall be preached in its simplicity in every part of 
the habitable earth — when the worship of God 
shall be set up in every nation and tribe — when all 
idolatry shall have melted away, and all the false 
heresies dissolved — then I think the text will re- 
ceive its fulfillment. May God Almighty hasten 
the coming of this light ! 

In closing the subject let me ask, How are we 
affected by all this ? Whereabouts are we in all 
this grand scene ? Are we in the dark or in the 
light? Blessed — I said at the beginning — blessed 
are your eyes, for they see: do you see? Do you 
hear the voice of the Son of God ? The hour is 
coming in the which all that are in their graves 
shall hear his voice, and shall come forth. There 
are two voices we have to hear : the one is the sil- 
ver trumpet of the Gospel, the other is the clarion 
trumpet of the final judgment. You must hear the 
last whether you will or not; you may hear the 
first; you may hear it and live; you may so hear 
it that its tones shall be music in your ears, and 
life, and health, and peace. Let none of us be sat- 
isfied with the fact that we are living in a Chris- 
tian country, and attending on Christian assein- 



444 The Wesleyan Demosthenes. 



blies for worship : how goes the matter wilh your- 
selves individually? Have you the root of the 
matter? Has your darkness been turned into 
light? Have you passed from death unto life? 
Examine yourselves whether ye be of the faith or 
not. u Know ye not that Christ" (nothing but 
this will do) a that Christ is in you except ye be 
reprobates ? " May God bless his word, and crown 
it with success, for his name's sake ! Amen. 



THE END. 



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